Donald Trump being Donald Trump. The president of USA has once again leaked private messages from the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and the Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte. The exposure of private conversations between the leaders has become a double-edged sword for those who engage in direct communication with the Republican. It already happened a few months ago, before the Atlantic Alliance summit in The Hague, when Trump wanted to expose the former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, who addressed him as “daddy” (daddy, in English). Recently, the president of the United States returned to his old ways and made public some exchanges with the Norwegian prime minister, Jonas Gahr Størein which he assured not feeling “obliged to think about peace” for not having received the Nobel Prize.
Now, the American is attacking Macron again, using these messages, whose veracity has already been confirmed by the French president’s entourage, as a method of coercion. The one who for a time was “a friend” with whom he “understood very well” has become someone who is too “politically correct” with whom it seems that he no longer has such an affinity. On his Truth Social network, the New York tycoon published this Monday a series of messages sent by the French leader in which he reproaches him for his actions with Greenland and proposes holding an extraordinary G-7 summit, with meetings on the sidelines with leaders who do not belong to the select club.
“My friend, we are in complete agreement on the issue of Syria. We can do great things in Iran. “I don’t understand what you are doing in Greenland,” Macron wrote, then offered to “organize a G7 meeting in Paris on Thursday afternoon after Davos“, where Trump goes this Wednesday to attend the World Economic Forum . “I can invite the Ukrainians, Danes, Syrians and Russians to the sidelines of the meeting,” he added.
In messages exchanged with Ruttethe Secretary General of NATO shows clear complicity with Trump and describes as “incredible” what he has achieved in Syria, saying goodbye with an effusive “can’t wait to see you” (“I can’t wait to see you”).
Macron’s entourage confirmed this Tuesday that the messages are real and that “they demonstrate that the French president, both in public and private, maintains the same position.” “Respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of States is non-negotiable” and France’s “commitment as a NATO ally to security in the Arctic region remains unwavering. Furthermore, we are determined that our G7 Presidency this year will be a productive opportunity to foster dialogue and cooperation,” added the sources close to the French leader.
200% tariffs on wine and champagne
Another source of tension between the US and France is the Peace Board that Trump is promoting for Gaza. After Elysée sources indicated on Monday that Macron could decline his participation in this body, Trump threatened to impose 200% tariffs on wine and French champagne, which would be a hard blow for a pillar sector in the country’s agriculture and which is not going through its best moment. “I’m going to do it, and Macron will meet with the Peace Board,” added the tenant of the White House in statements to journalists after stating that “no one loves” the French president and that “he will be out of office in a few months.”
Asked about these statements, the President Macron’s entourage stated this Tuesday that he “takes note” about Trump’s intentions, although they have stressed that “tariff threats to influence our foreign policy are unacceptable and ineffective.” The Minister of Agriculture, Annie Genevard, has also reacted to the announcement before the TF1 microphones: “This is an unacceptable threat at this time, an unprecedented brutality, and, obviously, it cannot go unanswered, not only by France, but by the entire European Union“.
The French wine and spirits sector also plays an important role in the United States, which remains the main export market for these products. In 2024, French exports of wines and spirits to the country will reach almost 3.8 billion euros.
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