Macron in Washington DC to walk the line between criticism and adulation with Trump

[Nergal]

 

As Emmanuel Macron arrives in Washington, the French President is expected to face pressure to tackle Trump on Iran, trade, and climate change, all while continuing to strengthen his cosy relationship with the US president.

Macron and his wife will join Donald and Melania Trump for a private dinner on Monday, followed by talks and a state dinner on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Macron will address a joint session of Congress, 58 years to the day after General Charles de Gaulle spoke on Capitol Hill in 1960.

Macron told Fox News on Sunday that himself and Trump “have a very special relationship.” Macron has been more successful than his fellow European leaders in building a relationship with Trump, taking the US President to a grandiose military parade in Paris and dining with him atop the Eiffel tower when he visited Paris last year.

In discussions with Trump, Macron is likely to walk a line between sycophancy and criticism. He is expected to pressure Trump into remaining in the Iran deal, signed between Iran and a bloc made up of the US, China, Russia, UK, France and Germany in 2015. Trump has said that the deal, which limits Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, is overly lenient and “was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into."

For his part, in his interview on Sunday, Macron said that, while he thinks the Iran deal is not perfect, he sees no better option. “Let’s preserve this framework,” he said, “because it’s better than the sort of North Korean type of situation.”

The French president will likely also be asking Trump for concessions for Europe on trade tariffs. “I hope he will not implement these new tariffs and he will decide for an exemption for the European Union,” he said on Fox. “You cannot make a trade war with your ally.”