Macron urges U.S. to renew its clout
French president poses challenge to Trump policy
WASHINGTON — French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday delivered an impassioned call for multilateralism and U.S. engagement in the world, saying it was “an essential part of our confidence in the future.”
Speaking to a joint meeting of Congress, amid frequent standing ovations and cheers, Macron recalled the long history of U.S.-French relations, and the countries’ shared values and culture in areas as diverse as democracy and freedom, human and civil rights, literature, jazz and the “Me Too” movement.
But, he warned, “this is a time of determination and courage. What we cherish is at stake. What we love is in danger. We
have no choice but to prevail. And together we shall prevail.”
Much of what he said, although couched in stirring and global terms, posed a direct challenge to the Trump administration and to the U.S. president with whom Macron has said he has a special relationship.
Macron expressed hope that the United States would re-enter the Paris climate accord, which President Donald Trump exited early in his administration.
“Some people think that securing current industries and their jobs is more urgent than transforming our economies to meet the challenge of global change,” he said. “I hear … but we must find a transition to a low-carbon economy. What is the meaning of our life, really, if we work and live destroying the planet, while sacrificing the future of our children?”
He said he believed U.S. and French disagreement on the climate issue was “short term” and that “in the long run, we will have to face the same realities. We’re just citizens of the same planet.”
Macron also called for resolution of trade disputes through negotiation and the World Trade Organization, indirectly criticizing Trump’s imposition of tariffs. “I believe we can build the right answers . . . by negotiating through the WTO and building cooperative solutions,” he said.
“We wrote these rules,” he said. “We should follow them.”
Macron called for the free world to “push aside” the forces of “isolationism, withdrawal and nationalism,” and to “shape our common answers to the global threats that we are facing” with an updated multilateralism, lest the post-World War II institutions that “you built,” including the United Nations and NATO, be destroyed.
“This requires more than ever the United States involvement, as your role was decisive in creating and safeguarding the free world. The United States is the one who invented this multilateralism, you are the one who has to help to preserve and reinvent it,” he said.
On Iran, he repeated his support for the nuclear deal and outlined a four-part solution to Trump’s concerns about the deal and Iranian expansionism in the Middle East.
“Our objective is clear. Iran shall never possess any nuclear weapons,” he said as the chamber rose with applause. “Not now. Not in five years. Not in 10 years. Never.”
“But this policy should never lead us to war in the Middle East,” he said, adding that respect for sovereignty must include Iran, “which represents a great civilization.”
“Let us not replicate past mistakes,” he said. “Let us not be naive on one side ... let us not create new wars on the other side.”
“There is an existing framework, the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] to control the activity of Iran. We signed it, at the initiative of the United States. We signed it, both the United States and France. That is why we cannot say we should get rid of it like that.”
Trump, who has called the agreement “the worst deal” in history and has said he will determine by May 12 whether to withdraw from it, will have to make his own decision, Macron said.
“But what I want to do .... is work on a more comprehensive deal” that would leave the agreement in place, while strengthening it by working on a larger, four-part international agreement that would also contain Iran’s ballistic missile program and its military expansion in the region.
“This containment ... is necessary in Yemen, in Lebanon, in Iraq and also in Syria,” Macron said.
“I think we can work together to build this comprehensive deal for the whole region for our people. Because I think it fairly addresses our concerns. That’s my position.”
The French leader noted that his speech to lawmakers fell on the 58th anniversary of the last time a French leader spoke to lawmakers, when President Charles de Gaulle visited Washington in 1960. Although Trump tweeted Wednesday morning that such a “great honor” was “seldom allowed,” more than 100 leaders have appeared before a joint session since Churchill.