World leaders’ relationship in spotlight
Will Trump’s visit with Macron make U.S.-France bond great again?
“The two leaders will further build on the strong counterterrorism cooperation and economic partnership between the two countries.”
White House spokesman Sean Spicer
A businessman who prides himself on his negotiating skills, President Donald Trump has made headlines for slamming longtime allies such as Germany over trade while seeking a fresh start with adversaries such as Russia after its alleged meddling in the U.S. elections.
Now, Trump is heading back to Europe for the third time as president to chat with a world leader with whom he has had an up-and-down relationship.
His love-hate approach with new French President Emmanuel Macron will be on full display when the U.S. president travels to Paris — and many other European countries are sure to be following the for signs of strain or renewed cooperation in their relationship.
Two months after his election, Macron has set himself up as a global anti-Trump. He has heralded the kinds of multilateral organizations Trump has shied away from and all but mocked the “America First” president over issues like climate change with his pledge to “make the planet great again.”
And yet Macron invited Trump to be the guest of honor at Friday’s annual parade on Bastille Day, a major French holiday.
Trump, meanwhile, reportedly told aides he didn’t like being “lectured to” by the 39-year-old French president. Yet the 71-yearold U.S. president quickly accepted Macron’s invitation to a series of meetings in Paris as well as the parade that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the United States’ entry into World War I.
“It’s an odd visit at an odd time,” said Julianne Smith, direc- tor of Transatlantic Security Program with the Washington-based Center for a New American Security think tank.
Smith said that Macron “is clearly walking around promoting his willingness to challenge global leadership,” and noted the new French president loudly criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin over what he called Russian efforts to spread “lying propaganda” during the recent French elections.
Despite apparent friction, analysts and administration officials said that Trump and Macron have found common ground on issues that top their meeting agenda in Paris: Counterterrorism and efforts to end the civil war in Syria.
“The two leaders will further build on the strong counterterrorism cooperation and economic partnership between the two countries, and they will discuss many other issues of mutual concern,” White House spokesman Sean Spicer said while announcing the brief trip. The president and first lady Melania Trump are scheduled to depart the White House on Wednesday night, landing in Paris on Thursday morning.
After a meet-and-greet with staff members at the U.S. Embassy and working lunch with U.S. military officials in Paris, Trump, Macron and their staffs will hold a series of formal meetings.
The two presidents are also scheduled to host a joint news conference — likely the first time that reporters will be able to ask Trump about the latest developments in the investigation of possible collusion between his campaign and Russians who hacked top Democratic officials.
President Trump has not been seen in public since that new broke on Saturday, the same day he returned from the G-20 summit in Hamburg.
The Paris mission also features some of the disagreements between Trump and Macron, particularly climate change. Macron wants Trump to reevaluate his decision to withdraw the United States from Paris climate change agreement that called on countries to reduce heat-trapping carbon emissions.
After Trump announced the withdrawal, saying the Paris deal demanded more from the U.S. than from other countries, Macron gave a televised speech offering French support to American citizens and scientists who opposed the decision, in part by making an apparent reference to Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
“Wherever we live, whoever we are,” he said, “we all share the same responsibility: Make our planet great again.”
Trump aides said he is willing to discuss climate change, to a point. The president “wants to do things to protect the environment,” said White House spokesperson Sarah Sanders. “He’s going to continue that practice and continue to encourage it, but also make sure that he’s making the deal that’s best for the American people.”
Macron also appeared to take on Trump during the G-20 summit. Citing differences between the U.S. and other countries over issues like climate change, trade, and globalization, the French president said, “Our world has never been so divided.” Calling for countries to increase participation in multilateral organizations, he said: “We need those organizations that were created out of the Second World War. Otherwise, we will be moving back toward narrow-minded nationalism.”
Even though Trump’s Paris trip is scheduled with festivities including a parade and a fancy dinner on the Eiffel Tower, Russia may be another potential point of controversy between them.
While Trump apparently pressed Putin on election meddling in their face-to-face meeting last week, the U.S. president expressed interest in working with Russia to improve cybersecurity.
Trump has cast doubt on conclusions from the U.S. intelligence community that Putin orchestrated a hacking campaign to influence the U.S. presidential election in his favor, and Macron and other countries will be paying close attention to his latest remarks, as they have also accused Russia of trying to interfere in their own elections.
Meanwhile, Trump has frequently criticized France, both as presidential candidate and since moving into the White House. Assailing French security measures after terrorists attacks in Paris, Nice, and other cities, Trump told the magazine Valeurs
Actuelles in February of 2016: “Unfortunately France isn’t what it was and Paris neither.”
Saying France has taken in too many refugees from Muslim countries, Trump said, “There are areas where you have the impression that they are outside the law.”
As he heads back to Europe, Trump aides stress the U.S. and French presidents had friendly exchanges on the sideline of the summit. “Their relationship is great,” said Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council for Trump.
Yet the complex relationship between Trump and Macron can be seen in symbolic events, even a handshake.
At their first meeting in May, on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Brussels, Trump and Macron had a long, tug-of-war style handshake, a seeming competition that Macron later invested with diplomatic significance.
The two leaders were described in reports sent by reporters on the ground as gripping each other’s hands so tightly their knuckles turned white and jaws clenched.
In a subsequent interview with the Journal du Dimanche, Macron said the aggressive handshake with Trump “was not innocent,” and “we must show that we will not make small concessions, even symbolic ones.”