France will be an unreliable boyfriend to the US
No matter how much the White House spoils the Macrons, the French have deep disdain for America
As with any budding affair, the diplomatic love-in between President Emmanuel Macron of France and Donald Trump, his enthusiastic American suitor, will raise expectations that “le bromance” could blossom into a more enduring relationship. Ever since Mr Macron stole a march on his European rivals by feting the American president during last year’s Bastille Day celebrations – with a candlelit dinner at the top of the Eiffel Tower – Mr Trump has entertained a tendresse for the dynamic young French politician.
This is evident from the lengths to which Mr Trump has gone to make Mr Macron and France’s first lady welcome during the first state visit he has hosted since becoming president. From tree-planting ceremonies on the White House lawn to a glitzy dinner at George Washington’s Mount Vernon mansion, Mr Trump has sought to show that his courtship of the French leader is no passing fancy. Mr Macron yesterday even found himself the unsuspecting recipient of a presidential kiss.
Mr Trump might appear overzealous in his pursuit of his French guest, but he will nevertheless be hoping that his approach will lay to rest the mutual antipathy that has often undermined Franco-american relations in recent years. It was not that long ago, after all, that many in Washington regarded France as being a nation of – to use the phrase famously coined in The Simpsons
– “cheese-eating surrender monkeys”.
The description became common parlance in 2003 after the French tried to sabotage the Bush administration’s plans to overthrow Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein by withdrawing their military support at the last minute.
For many policymakers, both in Washington and London, the attitude of the then French president Jacques Chirac was yet another example of the institutional ambiguity that has come to define France’s relationship with the Western alliance. In conflicts such as Bosnia, Libya and Afghanistan, the French have caused exasperation by taking their own, distinctive approach, thereby gaining a reputation for being unreliable allies.
Mr Trump will want his assiduous courtship of the current French leader to result in France becoming a more dependable partner. The White House will already be encouraged by Mr Macron’s enthusiastic support for the recent airstrikes against the Assad regime in Syria – a move that will have caused dismay in Whitehall as it appeared to show Paris replacing London as the go-to nation for European decision-making.
Establishing a healthy rapport with Paris would certainly help to answer Washington’s long-standing dilemma, best summed up by Henry Kissinger’s rhetorical question: when in a crisis, who does the US call in Europe?
Pre-brexit, the answer was Britain, the country that could always be relied upon to stand by America’s side. Now, with London about to bow out from the inner councils of European decision-making, Washington needs to make new friends in Europe. With Mr Macron, the Trump administration thinks it may have found the answer.
No matter how much the White House spoils Mr Macron, however, there is still a long way to go before this particular entente cordiale succeeds in overcoming the deepseated antipathy for America among France’s political and cultural elites.
It is not just the commonplace French disdain for Hollywood, fast-food outlets and the superior work ethic of les Anglo-saxons. The French regard America’s economic and financial dominance as posing an existential threat to la vie en rose, which is built on the premise that no one works more than a 35-hour week, and that all the key ingredients for a happy life, from fine food and wine to respectable pensions, are funded by the state.
This is the blissful paradigm that Mr Macron and his En Marche! party are attempting to reform. And it is the main reason why Mr Macron’s personal popularity ratings have plummeted since he won last year’s presidential election contest.
The French president’s domestic unpopularity did not prevent him from supporting airstrikes against Syria, which Mr Macron said “were necessary to give back to the international community some credibility”. There are, though, a number of other issues upon which opinions in Paris and Washington diverge, as Mr Trump will discover during his private bilateral talks with the French leader.
One obvious bone of contention is the Iran nuclear deal, which Mr Trump is minded to ditch when its renewal comes up next month, and which the French contend should be kept in place. Another is how Mr Macron intends to respond to Mr Trump’s threat to launch a trade war with the EU. Mr Macron will hope that, as Tony Blair was once able to do in the White House, he can use his special friendship with Mr Trump to persuade the American leader to change his mind. However, he will need to tread carefully. Mr Trump, for all his blandishments, might equally conclude his passion for the French president has not been requited.