The relationship between President Donald Trump of the United States and President Emmanuel Macron of France seemed to be remarkably strong at the start of this year, especially during President Macron’s state visit to Washington, D.C. in April of 2018. Since both are political outsiders that quickly, and unexpectedly rose to power in two of the world’s most powerful countries, they surely had a lot to bond over. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to sustain the relationship.
Towards the end of his visit to D.C., President Macron spoke before Congress about why nationalism and climate change are dangers to the world, why the United States should rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, and why the United States should remain in the Iran Nuclear Deal. He even took a jab at President Trump’s campaign slogan and said that we should “make our planet great again” by taking action against climate change.
After a trip filled with lots of physical displays of affection, the French president ended his trip by distancing himself from Donald Trump’s policies in front of the entire American legislative branch. By gaining President Trump’s trust and friendship during the first part of his trip, Emmanuel Macron was hoping to use this new leverage to convince the new American president to promote policies that benefit not just the United States, but also Europe and the rest of the world. It seems as though, however, that this tactic didn’t work — Trump withdrew the United States from the Iran Nuclear Deal shortly after in May of 2018, and the United States did not rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement.
Seven months later, in November of 2018, Donald Trump flew to Paris, France to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. This trip was again marked with controversy when President Trump did not travel to a ceremony at a cemetery outside of Paris due to mildly inclement weather. The administration claims that it was unsafe to travel to this location by helicopter due to the rain, and Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said that the President “did not want to cause unexpected disruptions” to Parisian traffic by driving to the cemetery with the presidential motorcade. Though highly criticized, this incident was only the beginning of the trip’s controversy.
During a speech under the Arc de Triomphe in Paris on Armistice Day, President Emmanuel Macron delivered a forceful rebuke of extreme nationalism by calling it a “betrayal of patriotism.” This remark is thought to be in response to President Trump’s recent controversial comments in which he declared himself to be a nationalist instead of a globalist at a rally in Houston, Texas.
These powerful remarks by the French President on the global stage seem to have angered our President, and, naturally, Donald Trump took to Twitter to rebuke. In a series of Tweets, Donald Trump attacked President Macron’s approval ratings, his idea for a European defense force, and, perhaps most surprisingly, French wine. Of all the things to criticize about France, wine probably shouldn’t be one of them. And to make matters worse, these Tweets were also issued on November 13, the anniversary of the 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris that killed 130 people.
Macron responded to these highly controversial Tweets and said: “I do not do policy or diplomacy by Tweets.” Benjamin Griveaux, a spokesperson for Macron’s political party, En Marche, told reporters that “common decency” would’ve been “more appropriate.” The French president also went on to say that “allies are not vassals,” alluding to the fact that even though France and the United States have been allies for a very long time, neither country is subordinate to the other.
While the personal relationship between Trump and Macron is strained, and their “bromance” is quite broken, the age-old alliance between France and the United States must remain strong. Threatening or ending the alliance would be an extreme decision that would stain the legacies of both presidents, and as a result, it would be a catastrophic mistake to do so. This should be a warning for President Trump: you must be nice to your friends (read allies) if you want them to stick around.
-Cassi Niedziela
