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President Emmanuel Macron of France hit a bad tone with President Trump, even when he was corrected with a smile in Washington on Monday. This punch of flattery and soft resistance is an example of the way some European leaders are trying to reach America in a full moment.
The question is whether it will work.
Mr Macron called Mr Trump “Dear Donald” four times during a joint press conference on Monday, underlining the common story between France and the United States – and stressing that the two leaders had made progress in discussing a viable and viable and viable Strong peace agreement on Ukraine.
But even when he stayed in the script and emphasized the common goals and values, Mr Macron showed himself willing to push back.
When Mr Trump claimed to the Oval Office that Europe would “get their money back” because of the way they funded support for Ukraine, Mr Macron intervened, in a friendly tone, saying: “We provide real money”. Unlike Mr Trump, Mr Macron clearly described Russia as an attacker of Ukraine. And later, in an interview with Fox News’ “Special Exhibition” before returning to France, Mr Macron criticized gentle threats to hit tariffs on European consumer goods as counterproductive. “How do you want to increase safety and defense costs if we are in a trade war?” he asked.
Europe is facing a tall challenge, as the full-scale war in Ukraine is entering the fourth year and US support for the conflict-and for Epirus as a whole-it is bent.
Mr Macron’s trip was part of a European diplomacy turmoil this week in Washington, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Britain expected to meet Mr Trump on Thursday and the leading diplomat of the European Union, Kaja Kallas, making them rounds around With administration officials.
Mr Macron is ready to facilitate the Europe of European Heads of State on Wednesday for his visit to Mr Trump. Mr Starmer will meet with a group of leaders in London on Sunday, Donald Tusk, the Polish prime minister, said on Sunday.
On the same day, Britain announced an increase in military spending. British and European leaders are increasingly talking about defense together, as both teams recognize that they may need to enter what is leaving America’s roughness.
EU leaders will have a special summit on March 6th for Ukraine support and strengthening Europe’s defense, which leaders have promised to focus on more detailed plans.
Even when they record their own path forward, European officials are desperate to keep the United States engaging and active. US military skills and funding were critical to support Ukraine’s resistance and the United States is a key commercial partner for the 27 -member European Union. A deterioration in the transatlantic relationship is not in the interest, EU leaders often stress.
America’s Tonal Shift was so sudden and intense that it has left Europe in defense. Mr Trump has spent the last few days and weeks criticizing European allies, while making more and more friendly intentions to Russia. Among his complaints, Mr Trump has long insisted that European nations spend more on their own security – a message that Mr Macron is particularly comfortable.
The French president has for years called on Europe to have more “strategic autonomy” and less military dependence on the United States – often in skepticism than some of France’s neighbors. He emphasized it again with Mr Trump.
“Everyone in Europe is now clear that it is our duty as Europeans” to bear more than the weight of Epirus, Mr Macron told Washington. “Europeans are now ready to do a lot more.”
Mr Macron said Europeans could send troops as part of a future peace agreement in Ukraine – not on the first lines of a conflict, but as a peacekeeping force – and that the United States would act on “solidarity” to support this approach.
There were few details on how the United States would do. And if necessary, it would take many troops, money and time for Europe to develop the capabilities needed to support Ukraine and defend independently. This helps to explain why officials gently urge the United States to remain committed and why they remind US officials that this is in his own interest.
“Emperors around the world are watching very closely if there is impunity if you invade your neighbor and violate the international border,” Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, told Monday.
“This is not just primary for Europe,” he added. “It is also important for Asia, for Africa on both sides of the Atlantic.”
It is also not clear whether Mr Macron and other European leaders can influence Mr Trump in Ukraine, as the US leader embraces President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia and redefines this relationship. Washington’s statements and actions have left European officials that Mr Trump will negotiate a rapid peace agreement with Russia without including Ukrainian and other European leaders, laying the groundwork for a ceasefire that leaves Kiev. And he encourages Mr. Putin. This in turn, Europeans are afraid, will leave other nations on Epirus at risk of future invasion.
On the surface, Mr Trump and Mr Macron were all wide smiles and steady handshakes during the French president’s visit. He was addressing each other as close friends, remembered the previous meetings-including the day of the Bastille Day in 2017 and the reopening of the Notre-Dame Cathedral last year-and played a century Franco-American Alliance.
“The United States and France always stand on the same side, on the right side, I would say, of history,” Mr Macron said. “This is at stake today.”
He was careful not to compete with Mr Trump immediately and repeatedly put a positive rotation in the US leader’s latest proposals in Russia.
Mr Macron – criticized himself in the early stages of war to promote Mr Putin, before getting a tougher line – called discussions with Russia “useful”. He framed US-Ukrainian discussions about a mineral agreement as a big sign, telling Fox News in an interview that it was “one of the best ways” to ensure that the United States was committed to “dominating Ukrainian sovereignty”.
Behind the United States for peace, however, were strongly divergent views on how to get it. Mr Trump suggested: “We could finish it in a few weeks if we are smart.” Mr Macron repeatedly forged his own message: Don’t hurry.
Peace cannot mean “capitulation” of Ukraine, Mr Macron said, adding that Ukraine should not be pushed to an unstable ceasefire without security guarantees to prevent future Russian aggression.
As a warning story, Mr Macron repeatedly mentioned the ceasefire agreements of the 2014 and 2015 fire, known as Minsk’s agreements, which were forged after Russian -backed employees and seized the territory in eastern Ukraine. These agreements failed to prevent Ukraine invasion in 2022 in Russia.
“He was violated every time by Russia and we did not react, all of us,” Mr Macron said.
In France, the companionship between the two men was seen as a surface screen that did little about the paper over the developing rupture in the transatlantic alliance.
Libération, a left -wing Kathimerini, said that “behind the external smiles” of leaders, “a wall rises” between Europe and the United States. Le Figaro, a conservative Kathimerini, noted that Mr Macron had not received any “steady assurance” from Mr Trump of the ongoing US support.
Le Monde, one of France’s top newspapers, said in a pension that when it comes to a reasoning with Mr Trump, “hope is thin” and that Europe may need to “prepare the battle”.
