US President-elect Donald Trump said on Saturday the world was “a little crazy” as he met President Emmanuel Macron in Paris ahead of the re-opening of Notre Dame Cathedral on his first international trip since his re-election.
On the steps of the French Presidential Palace, the two men hugged each other and shook hands several times, during which Trump was given a full guard of honour.
“It feels like the world is going a little crazy right now and we’re going to talk about it,” Trump told reporters as he prepared for talks with Macron. Which started about 45 minutes late from the scheduled time.
Despite tensions between the two men during his first term, Trump praised his relationship with the centrist French leader, saying: “As everyone knows, we had a very good relationship. We accomplished a lot.”
Macron told Trump that “it is a great honor for the French people to welcome you” to the reopening ceremony at Notre Dame, which was devastated by a fire in 2019 during Trump’s first term.
“You were president at the time and I remember the solidarity and the immediate reaction,” Macron said, speaking in English.
When he first took office in 2017, Trump’s relations with Macron – who was then a new face on the world stage – started out warm despite their obvious political differences.
Their long and meaty handshake – in which each man seemed to assert his superiority – became the focus of light-hearted attention before relations cooled and then soured after disputes about climate change, trade and defence.
They are expected to discuss the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East as well as trade.
Trump’s return to power has set off alarm bells in Paris and several European capitals after he promised during the campaign to end the fighting in Ukraine, which could have halted US military aid to Kiev.
A Macron aide told AFP on condition of anonymity that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was expected to arrive at the French presidential palace shortly after Trump and was ready to hold three-way discussions with Macron.
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