So much for Le Bromance! Now Macron attacks Trump policies

EMMANUEL Macron yesterday denounced nationalism and isolationism in what was seen as a rebuke to Donald Trump’s ‘America first’ policy.

Addressing Congress as part of his US state visit, the French president said the policies that formed a key part of Mr Trump’s campaign were a threat to global prosperity.

It followed days of Mr Macron and the US President exhibiting their blossoming ‘bromance’. Giving his speech in English, Mr Macron said: ‘We can choose isolationism, withdrawal and nationalism... but closing the door to the world will not stop the evolution of the world.

‘It will not douse but inflame the fears of our citizens. If we decided to open our eyes wider we will be stronger. We will not let the rampaging work of extreme nationalism shake a world full of hopes for greater prosperity.’

In the first address by a foreign leader to a joint session of Congress in the Trump era, Mr Macron also raised other issues of difference including the Iran nuclear deal, which Mr Trump had branded ‘terrible’ a day earlier. The French president, whose speech was met with frequent outbreaks of applause, told Congress that Iran would ‘never’ be allowed to develop atomic weapons, as the fate of a 2015 nuclear accord with Tehran – made when Barack Obama was in office – hangs in the balance.

Mr Macron said: ‘This agreement may not address all concerns, and very important concerns. This is true. But we should not abandon it without having something more substantial instead.’ The French president also addressed climate change – following the US pulling out of the landmark Paris agreement – saying: ‘I believe in building a planet for our children that is still inhabitable in 25 years. Let us face it. There is no planet B.’

And, following Mr Trump’s claims that trade wars were good and easily won, Mr Macron told his audience that ‘commercial war is not the proper answer’ as it would ‘destroy jobs and increase prices’.

Despite their differences, Mr Macron was also keen during the 50-minute address to reiterate the two nations’ ‘special relationship’. ‘Our two nations are rooted in the same soil, grounded in the ideals of the American and French revolutions,’ he said. ‘We have worked together for the universal ideals of liberty, tolerance, and equal rights.’

His speech followed appearances in which Mr Trump and Mr Macron have been pictured holding hands, kissing each other on the cheek and embracing.

Meanwhile, Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani yesterday hit out at Mr Trump’s claim of a new agreement on Tehran’s nuclear programme, dismissing the US President as a ‘tradesman’ and saying the West had no right to renegotiate the deal.

‘Inflame fears of our citizens’