President Donald Trump seemed agitated while meeting with various world leaders in Paris, CNN is reporting. Trump is in Paris for the weekend to honor the 100th anniversary of the end of World War I. The trip already started off on a rough note, with Trump tweeting out on Friday that French President Emmanuel Macron was “insulting” for suggesting in a radio interview that Europe needs a “real Europen army” to protect itself from other countries, including the United States. A senior French official says Trump is taking what Macron said “out of context.”
Then, Trump made headlines for cancelling an appearance at the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery and Memorial that was intended to honor fallen soldiers. Trump pulled out of the event due to “poor weather,” and it was reportedly drizzling outside. Later, during a talk with Macron, the two leaders appeared to agree on some things, like “greater detail” needing to be made available surrounding the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Tension rose again, however, when they moved onto the topic of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action treaty, aka the Iran Nuclear Deal.
President Macron of France has just suggested that Europe build its own military in order to protect itself from the U.S., China and Russia. Very insulting, but perhaps Europe should first pay its fair share of NATO, which the U.S. subsidizes greatly!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 9, 2018
Macron feels that France should maintain the deal, and European policy in general. According to a source, however, Trump “stuck to his guns” and maintained the position that “it was important to keep up pressure on Iran and to weaken it.” It seems that Macron isn’t the only world leader Trump was having disagreements with. A source described Trump’s demeanor as “sour” and “testy” when engaging in conversation with other various world leaders. Apparently, their differing opinions on issues such as defense spending and burden sharing got Trump riled up. These are prominent issues that Trump has disagreed with European leaders on in the past as well.
The inside source does say, however, that they don’t want to disclose the specific leaders that sensed his “sour” behavior, so as not to implicate them, as well as to protect the privacy of what exactly was discussed in the conversations themselves. Since the past two days have been tumultuous, the public is curious about how Trump will handle the rest of the trip. On Sunday, he is set to visit a cemetery for fallen U.S. soldiers and attend another World War I ceremony at the city’s historic Arc de Triomphe.
While insiders are saying many European leaders did not enjoy their conversations with Trump, Macron has so far remained civil and has yet to reveal if anything negative occurred.
