Trump attacks Macron over wine, visit, approval ratings, NATO, economy

French
President Emmanuel Macron welcomes US President Donald Trump at
the Elysee Palace
Vincent
Kessler/Reuters

• President Donald Trump’s tight bond with France’s President
  Emmanuel Macron appears to have fallen apart.
• Trump launched into an extended Twitter tirade against Macron
  and France on Tuesday, his third online attack on the country in
  the past week.
• Trump took shots at everything from Macron’s approval rating
  to France’s wine industry.
• The falling out mirrors Trump’s troubles with other world
  leaders he once shared a connection with like Canadian Prime
  Minister Justin Trudeau.

The once close relationship between President Donald Trump and
Emmanuel Macron appears to be on the rocks after Trump launched
into a Twitter tirade attacking the French president on Tuesday.

A bromance marked by
intense handshakes and
tree planting has now devolved, as represented by
Trump’s attacks on Macron’s approval ratings and France’s trade
restrictions on US wine.

“The problem is that Emmanuel suffers from a very low
Approval Rating in France, 26%, and an unemployment rate of
almost 10%,” Trump tweeted Tuesday. “He was just trying to get
onto another subject. By the way, there is no country more
Nationalist than France, very proud people-and rightfully so!
MAKE FRANCE GREAT AGAIN!”

While the two sides’
connection became strained following Trump’s decision to hit
the European Union with tariffs on steel and aluminum coming into
the US, the falling out appears to have hit a nadir over the
weekend.

Defense dust up

The presidential dust-up kicked off when Macron suggested
last week that Europe needs to build up its own military in order
to protect itself from threats, including the US.

“We have to protect ourselves with respect to China,
Russia, and even the United States of America,”
Macron said on French
radio.

While Macron insisted the comment referred to the need to
wean Europe off of the US’s defense and cybersecurity apparatus,

Trump took offense to the comment and bashed Macron in a
tweet on Friday.

“President Macron of France has just suggested that Europe
build its own military in order to protect itself from the US,
China and Russia,” Trump said. “Very insulting, but perhaps
Europe should first pay its fair share of NATO, which the US
subsidizes greatly!”

Ironically, Macron was essentially suggesting Europe do
exactly what Trump wants: spend more on defense to meet NATO’s
defense spending threshold.

Christophe Petit Tesson/Pool via
AP

An awkward weekend

Following the back-and-forth over defense, Trump traveled
to France to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of
World War I where Trump’s displeasure with Macron was on full
display.

The trip got off to a shaky start on Saturday when
Trump did not attend a World War I memorial service just
outside of Paris on Saturday due to inclement weather,
which drew
a slew of critiques.

Trump
defended the choice in a tweet Tuesday, saying that Marine
One could not fly to the graveyard and the Secret Service would
not allow Trump to travel by car. While previous presidents have
typically had back-up plans in the event of foul weather, it
appears Trump’s team did not.

The awkwardness continued Sunday during
Trump and Macron’s one-on-one meeting which did not
appear as warm as previous interactions between the two leaders.
The interaction was then followed up a Macron speech denouncing
nationalism, a movement that
Trump has explicitly tied himself to in recent months.

“Nationalism is a betrayal of patriotism,” Macron said

just a few yard away from Trump. “By saying, ‘Our interests
first, who cares about the others,’ we erase what a nation holds
dearest, what gives it life, what gives it grace and what is
essential: its moral values.”

While Macron did not call out Trump by name, the US
president
did not appear to be enthused by the public condemnation
of his ideology.

Lashing out

Following the rocky weekend, Trump continued to launch
online attacks at France and the rest of the European leaders. On
Monday,
Trump threatened to pull out of NATO and declared that
“Trade must be FREE and FAIR!”

Trump then continued his tantrum on Tuesday with the
personal
 attacks about Macron’s approval
ratings (which
are admittedly dismal) and a variety of other bizarre
insults, including a shot at
France’s record during World War II.

“Emmanuel Macron suggests building its own army to protect
Europe against the U.S., China and Russia. But it was Germany in
World Wars One & Two – How did that work out for France? They
were starting to learn German in Paris before the US came along.
Pay for NATO or not!”

From
right to left: Brigitte Macron, French President Emmanuel Macron,
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US President Donald Trump, first
lady Melania Trump
Benoit
Tessier/Reuters

The president also
attacked France’s wine trade, saying trade restrictions
imposed by the European Union are unfair to US wine
producers.

“On Trade, France makes excellent wine, but so does the
US,” Trump said. “The problem is that France makes it very hard
for the US to sell its wines into France, and charges big
Tariffs, whereas the US makes it easy for French wines, and
charges very small Tariffs. Not fair, must change!”

According to data from the International Trade Centre,
France exported roughly $1.8 billion worth of wine to the US in
2017 while just $71 million went from the US to France.

Interestingly,
Trump reportedly has a renewed interest in imposing tariffs
on imported cars and trucks in recent days. While France wouldn’t
be as suffer from auto tariffs as much as other EU nations — such
as Germany — the move would likely cause major economic
disruptions across Europe. France’s finance minister has
pledged to hit back if Trump imposed auto restrictions on
European cars.

A dwindling number of close relationships

The back-and-forth between Trump and Macron seems to have
buried one of the president’s closer diplomatic
relationships.

Macron was the first official state visitor of Trump’s
presidency and the pair always shared a chummy rapport in their
public interactions, but Trump appears to have been scorned of
late. In fact, Macron appeared much closer to German Chancellor
Angela Merkel — who has not enjoyed a friendly relationship with
Trump— over the weekend.

The collapse of the Trump-Macron bromance bears a lot of
similarities to the falling out between the US leader and
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. 

Trudeau and Trump
seemed to forge a connection early in Trump’s presidency, but

feuds over trade policies and personal attacks by Trump
caused an ugly break up. Similarly, Trump’s relationships with
other leaders, like Chinese President Xi Jinping, have become
strained over trade fights and other disagreements.

But Trump
did share a warm greeting with Russian President Vladimir
Putin during a memorial ceremony on Saturday, with
Putin throwing Trump a big thumbs up.