Macron’s charm could alter Trump’s mind on climate change

PARIS (AP) — French President Emmanuel Macron says his glamorous Paris charm offensive on Donald Trump was carefully calculated — and may have changed the US president’s mind about climate change.

Macron defended his outreach to Trump, whose “America first” policies have elicited worry and disdain in Europe.

“Our countries are friends, so we should be too,” Macron said in an interview Sunday in the Journal du dimanche newspaper.

After a tense, white-knuckle handshake at their first meeting in May, Macron said they gained “better, intimate knowledge of each other” during Trump’s visit to Paris last week.

On their main point of contention — Trump’s withdrawal from the landmark Paris climate agreement — Macron is quoted as saying that “Donald Trump listened to me. He understood the reason for my position, notably the link between climate change and terrorism.”

Increasing droughts and other extreme weather blamed on man-made climate change are worsening migration crises and conflicts in some regions as populations fight over dwindling resources.

“He said he would try to find a solution in the coming months. We spoke in detail about what could allow him to return to the Paris deal,” Macron said, according to the newspaper.

While in Paris, Trump remained non-committal about the US eventually rejoining the climate agreement, telling Macron, “if it happens that will be wonderful, and if it doesn’t that will be OK too.” Trump has said the climate deal was unfair to US business.