A day after flaunting his friendship with Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron forcefully challenged many of the U.S. president’s policies on Wednesday, urging the United States to engage more with the world, step up the fight against climate change and stay in the Iran nuclear pact for now.
Capping a three-day visit, Macron repeatedly criticized the president’s isolationist principles in a speech to a joint meeting of Congress, an honour given to a small number of visiting foreign leaders.
President Donald Trump shakes hands with French President Emmanuel Macron during a meeting at the Palace Hotel during the United Nations General Assembly, Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Macron said U.S. involvement in the global community was vital and Trump’s opposition to the Paris climate accord and international trade agreements was short-sighted.
The French president even took a dig at Trump’s famous 2016 campaign slogan, calling for the United States to help “make our planet great again.”
Macron has developed a strong relationship with Trump at a time when many European leaders are keeping a distance. During the visit, they repeatedly shook and grabbed hands, exchanged kisses on the cheek, and slapped each other’s backs while praising their friendship.
But before Congress, Macron suggested he wanted more than just good optics.
Without mentioning Trump by name, he challenged the Republican president’s protectionist and nationalist impulses and said modern economic and security challenges must be a shared global responsibility that is “based on a new breed of multilateralism.”
“The United States is the one who invented this multilateralism. You are the one now who has to help preserve and reinvent it,” Macron said.
IRAN DEAL
He said an international nuclear deal with Iran, which Trump has harshly criticized, was not perfect but must remain in place until a replacement is forged.
“It is true to say that this agreement may not address all concerns and very important concerns,” Macron said. “But we should not abandon it without having something more substantial instead. That’s my position.”
Trump has often vowed to pull the United States out of the 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and six major powers. He will decide by May 12 whether to restore U.S. economic sanctions on Tehran, which could be a first step to ending the deal.
