Syria, Iran, tariffs high on Macron-Trump talks

European leaders face uphill battle to convince US president to stay in nuclear deal

French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in the United States yesterday for a three-day state visit seen as a test of his relationship with President Donald Trump, with the fate of the Iran nuclear deal, Syria and US plans to impose steel and aluminium tariffs atop the agenda.

Macron, who arrived at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, was later expected to join Trump for dinner at Mount Vernon, the home of the first US President George Washington.

Their formal talks are set for today. Then tomorrow, Macron will address a joint session of Congress.

Earlier, Macron told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that France was committed to pushing for more dialogue among Syria’s warring parties.

Last week, the French leader said he believed he had persuaded Trump to keep US troops in Syria, but Trump has been insistent on bringing them home.

Macron’s trip also kicks off a crucial week for European leaders in an uphill battle to convince Trump to stay in the Iran nuclear deal.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will meet separately with Trump. Pressure to win over Trump is growing as a potential make-or-break deadline approaches on May 12, when the US president will decide whether to extend sanctions relief for Iran or risk blowing up the accord.

The EU’s trade chief said that Macron and Merkel will tell Trump to back off on plans to impose steel and aluminium tariffs when they visit Washington.

Macron said he believed he had persuaded Trump to keep US troops in Syria, but Trump has been insistent on bringing them home, though no timetable has been given.

The leaders of Germany and France will urge US President Donald Trump not to pull out of an Iran nuclear deal with major powers since doing so could cause major problems, German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said yesterday. French President Emmanuel Macron is urging Trump to stick with the Iranian nuclear accord, arguing there’s no ‘Plan B’.

Macron told the broadcast Fox News Sunday that he thinks the 2015 deal curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions is imperfect. But the French leader, who began a state visit to Washington yester day, asked, “Is this agreement perfect and this JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] a perfect thing for our relationship with Iran? No. But for nuclear — what do you have? As a better option? I don’t see it.”

Trump has vowed to withdraw from the Iran deal by May 12 unless US and European negotiators agree to fix what he calls its serious flaws.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Macron agreed during a phone call yesterday that the deal should be continued, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Macron is on something of a rescue mission for the 2015 Iran nuclear JCPOA deal, which was reached between Iran, the United States and five other world powers. It put curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for sanctions relief.

The two leaders are also expected to discuss Syria, less than two weeks after the United States, France and Britain launched air strikes in Syria in retaliation for a suspected chemical weapons attack that killed dozens in Douma, Syria.

Macron said last week that he believed he had persuaded Trump to keep US troops in Syria, but Trump has been insistent on bringing them home, although he has not publicly provided a definite timetable.

Whether substantive progress will be made on these and other issues was unclear.

“Whether we will actually solve, or come to closure, or a full detailed agreement on some of the issues that we’ve touched on is difficult to say at this remove,” a senior administration official told reporters on Friday.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called on European leaders to support the deal. “It is either all or nothing. European leaders should encourage Trump not just to stay in the nuclear deal, but more important to begin implementing his part of the bargain in good faith,” Zarif tweeted.