Entente cordiale with Trump strengthens Macron’s hand
Presidents of US and France play domestic politics on international stage
With lobster on the menu and a panoramic view over Paris from the Eiffel Tower on a summer evening, Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, last night wooed Donald Trump, urging the US leader to curb his America First instincts in dealing with Europe.
The two-day trip included Mr Trump’s commemoration of America’s entry into the First World War, a visit the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte, a summit with Mr Macron and then dinner at the Paris landmark.
Mr Trump and his wife Melania, who was dressed in a pillar-box red outfit on arrival, will today review the military parade for Bastille Day, the French national day, before returning to Washington.
Beyond the ceremonial, Mr Macron has a point to prove.
With the British absorbed in the complex, stuttering process of leaving the European Union, there is a vacancy for the role of European interlocutor with Washington.
While Germany is the European powerhouse, Mr Trump and chancellor Angela Merkel have frosty personal relations. The 39-year-old former banker who became French president in May has stepped into the void.
“France, oldest ally of the US (1778!) is happy and proud to welcome @POTUS to commemorate the entry of the US into WW1 on its side,” wrote Gerard Araud, the French ambassador to Washington in a Twitter storm to mark Mr Trump’s touchdown.
“Great symbolism of this day for @EmmanuelMacron when meeting Merkel and then @ POTUS : France in the EU and in our transatlantic alliance.”
Mr Trump was in Europe last week, at the G20 summit in Hamburg, where he met Russian president Vladimir Putin. The US president told an interviewer that he had made “a deal” with Mr Putin in setting up a south-west Syrian ceasefire zone.
It is the sort of language that worries European leaders, who view Mr Putin as a hostile force.
By gaining better relations with Mr Trump, the French leader hopes to head off a bigger surprise down the line.
That would require a leap of faith by the two men.
“In the Trump-Macron relationship, opposites attract,” diplomat and writer Denis Lacorne told the New York Times. “Macron has positions much closer to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. He’s a pluralist. He’s got a world vision that’s exactly the opposite of Trump’s.”
The Europeans appear to have lost the battle to cajole Mr Trump back into the global warming arrangement known as the Paris Accord.
At the public events, Mr Macron and Mr Trump appeared to get on well, speaking animatedly and exchanging signals of bonhomie at another tomb – that of Marshal Ferdinand Foch, commander of French forces in 1917.
As the two men later sat in the gilt reception rooms of the Elysee Palace for talks, Mr Trump and Mr Macron were expected to agree on intensifying the fight against ISIL and stronger diplomatic efforts to resolve the Syrian civil war.
Beset by the controversy over Donald Trump Jr’s meeting with a Russian lawyer offering the Kremlin’s help to defeat Mrs Clinton in the election last yeare, Mr Trump needs the ceremonial events to glow back home in the US. Pleased to be able to grant Mr Trump a protest-free visit – the Bastille Day holiday has deterred troublemakers of the ilk that wrecked Hamburg – the French are happy to oblige their guest.
“The main objective is to show our strong friendship over the years and that despite differences we remain close allies,” said Emmanuelle Lachaussee, a spokeswoman for the French embassy in Washington.
The most significant business of the day for Mr Macron therefore may well have been a German/French cabinet meeting with Mrs Merkel, which broke up just as the US leader arrived. At a news conference afterwards, the German leader made a significant gesture to the French by conceding that the eurozone could start talks on the establishment of its own finance minister.
Germany has resisted the move throughout the financial crisis, fearing that it would be forced to bankroll the weaker economies in the currency area.
Berlin is also worried that the post would lead to a loosening of fiscal rules as politicians looked to the state to solve economic problems.
The main objective is to show our strong friendship and that despite differences we remain close allies