Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron began talks at the Elysée Palace on Saturday after the US president tweeted that his French counterpart’s suggestion that Europe needed “a real European army” was “insulting".
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| US President Donald Trump (L) poses next to French president Emmanuel Macron prior to their meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris |
The meeting appeared to get off to a tense start as Mr Macron tried to convince Mr Trump that his plan was in line with the US president’s demand for European nations to take more responsibility for their own defence.
He did not say that Europe needed a common army to protect itself against the United States, but to reduce its reliance on the US for defence, his aides said.
Sitting beside Mr Macron, Mr Trump urged European countries to pay more towards their defence. He said the United States wants a "strong Europe" and is willing to help its allies, but Europe must be fair when it comes to sharing the defence burden.
"We want a strong Europe, it's very important to us and whichever way we can do it the best and more efficient would be something we both want.”
Asked what he meant when he tweeted that he felt insulted by Mr Macron's comments that Europe should reduce its dependence on the United States for security, Mr Trump said, "We want to help Europe but it has to be fair. Right now the burden sharing has been largely on the United States.”
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| Brigitte Macron, wife of French President Emmanuel Macron, greets US first lady Melania Trump at the Elysee Palace in Paris |
Mr Trump appeared to have taken earlier comments made by Mr Macron about cyber threats to Europe out of context. Mr Macron said in a radio interview this week: “We are being shaken by hacking attempts in our cyberspace. We have to protect ourselves with respect to China, Russia and even the United States of America.”
Before going into the talks on Saturday, Mr Macron said he agreed with Mr Trump that Europe should finance a greater share of the costs of the NATO military alliance.
"That's why I do believe my proposals for European defence are fully consistent with that," he said in English. “We need more European capacities and more defence to take this part of the burden.”
Mr Macron added that states in the US did not ask France, Germany or other countries to finance their military. He said Europe needed “more investment” in its armies.
Mr Macron added that the two leaders would discuss issues including Iran, the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, climate change and trade during an hour of talks. The two leaders were to spend the first half of the session alone before being joined by their aides.
Mr Trump said trade was a key issue in the talks. He has toned down his threat of tariffs on cars manufactured in the European Union while the two sides discussed the removal of tariffs on EU aluminium and steel imports.
The US president said negotiations were making progress. ”We'll see if we can get it over the line," he added.
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| Donald Trump (L) is welcomed by French President Emmanuel Macron |
Another key area is terrorism, Mr Trump said. “We see what’s going on the world and it’s not a good picture,” although he added that progress had been made.
The tone and body language at the meeting was far from the cordiality of last year, when Mr Trump was guest of honour at the Bastille Day military parade in Paris on July 14.
The last time the Macrons hosted the Trumps in Paris, they whisked them up the Eiffel Tower for a private dinner on the second floor.
The encounter was more reminiscent of Mr Trump’s awkward meeting with Theresa May in London in July after he criticised her in an interview and said he thought the then foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, would make “a great prime minister.”
The French president, who has enacted major defence spending hikes to bring France in line with NATO spending targets, is spearheading the creation of a nine-country European rapid reaction force, independent from NATO.
The force, which would fall far short of an army in size and scope, would be able to rapidly mount a joint military operation, evacuate civilians from a war zone or provide aid after a natural disaster.
Proposals for a full EU army with a joint command - a pet project of European federalists - remain deeply sensitive, however, among EU members anxious to defend their sovereignty.
French officials said Macron's mooted EU "army" was merely a call for closer defence integration.
The row over EU defence risks overshadowing commemorations to be attended by 70 world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
On Saturday morning, Macron and Trump will hold bilateral talks on issues expected to include Syria and Iran before lunching with Melania and Macron's wife Brigitte.
Trump is scheduled to visit two American cemeteries over the course of the weekend, which will culminate with a solemn ceremony Sunday at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier under the Arc de Triomphe, a monument to France's war dead.
Speaking to reporters Friday before his departure Trump said he was "looking forward" to the trip.
"I think it will be something very, very special," he said.
The isolationist US leader has, however, ducked out of a peace conference Sunday afternoon, which Macron and Chancellor Angela Merkel intend to use as a platform for promoting multilateralism.
US National Security Advisor John Bolton Friday downplayed Trump's decision not to attend the inaugural Paris Peace Forum - to be attended by Putin and Erdogan - telling reporters in Paris the president had "a lot of pressing issues" to attend to.
Trump and Macron struck up a warm relationship initially, particularly during the US leader's first visit to Paris, but have repeatedly clashed since then over a growing list of issues, including Trump pulling America out of the 2015 Paris climate accord and the Iran nuclear deal.
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