French President Emmanuel Macron arrived at the White House ready to present a strong and unified case for Europe, especially regarding support for Ukraine. However, during his meeting with US President Donald Trump, it quickly became clear that Trump did not fully agree with Macron’s position.
At one point, Macron interrupted Trump to correct him on European financial support for Ukraine. As Trump was explaining his belief that Europe was only loaning money to Ukraine, Macron reached out, grabbed Trump’s arm, and said, “No, in fact, to be frank, we paid. We paid 60 per cent of the total effort. It was like the US: loans, guarantees, grants.” Trump simply smiled in response.
The conversation highlighted tensions between the two leaders. While Trump seemed open to discussing a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine and even mentioned that Russian President Vladimir Putin was open to the idea, he also insisted that the war could end within weeks. He refused to call Putin a dictator and expressed a desire to visit Moscow in the future. He also stated that he was planning to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky soon to finalize a deal that would grant the US access to Ukraine’s mineral revenues, saying, “It looks like we’re getting very close.”
Before their formal meeting, Macron had already spent over two hours with Trump in a virtual G7 meeting. During this meeting, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that he emphasized “the importance of the vital ‘Critical Minerals and Rare-Earths Deal’ between the United States and Ukraine, which we hope will be signed very soon!”
The G7 discussions were tense, as US officials opposed including the phrase “Russian aggression” in the final statement. Trump has also renewed his push for Russia to be allowed back into the G7, a topic he had previously argued about with Macron and other leaders in 2019.
Despite these disagreements, after the G7 meeting, both leaders claimed the talks went well. Macron even described the meeting as “perfect.” Later in the day, he and Trump greeted each other with smiles and laughter before sitting down for their private meeting, followed by a working lunch with their teams, and finally a joint press conference.
Macron’s strategy was to spend as much time as possible with Trump, hoping to use their relationship to advocate for Ukraine and Europe. He believes that Trump respects him, saying last week, “He is someone I respect, who I believe respects me.” However, before the meeting, Trump criticized both Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for not doing enough to end the war, claiming they “haven’t done anything.” Macron likely tried to correct this claim during their discussion.
Macron has previously pushed Trump to support Ukraine. In December, he arranged a surprise three-way meeting in Paris with Zelensky and Trump during the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral. According to officials, Trump was “in listening mode” as Zelensky explained why Ukraine needed security guarantees. Macron also tried to convince Trump that Putin had changed since the last time Trump was in office and warned that if Ukraine lost the war, the US would look weak, especially to China.
However, these discussions do not seem to have changed Trump’s mind. Recently, he has accused Zelensky of provoking the war and suggested that Ukraine is to blame. European officials know it will be difficult, if not impossible, to change Trump’s views on the conflict. Instead, they are focusing on future strategies, especially since Trump plans to meet Putin soon, and a potential peace deal is starting to take shape.
Starmer, who is scheduled to meet Trump on Thursday, plans to present a proposal for sending up to 30,000 European peacekeeping troops to Ukraine. He also hopes to show that Europe is willing to take on more responsibility for Ukraine’s security and might reveal the UK’s timeline for increasing defense spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP.
Macron, on the other hand, plans to appeal to Trump’s personal image. Before his trip, he said, “I’m going to say to him, ‘Deep down you can’t be weak in the face of Putin, it’s not you, it’s not your trademark.'”
Before traveling, Macron and Starmer spoke on the phone and agreed to “show united leadership” in their separate meetings with Trump, according to Downing Street.
