Trump 'went off' on French president during face-to-face meeting
US President Donald Trump was "ranting and venting on trade" to French President Emmanuel Macron during their bilateral meeting Monday evening, according to a senior diplomatic source.
Posted — UpdatedTrump lambasted the European Union for its trade policies, saying it was worse than China -- a complaint that the US president made to his French counterpart in an April meeting at the White House.
The source described Trump as "going off" on EU trade during his meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly. Trump said that the EU had to open up on agriculture -- a continued point of contention in trade negotiations between the two entities. Macron was respectful to Trump and pushed back some on the topic but moved the conversation forward, the source said.
There was "some rapport" between the two, "but it's not what it (once) was," the source said.
Trump and Macron also talked about Iran and North Korea, during which Trump expressed his views in what the source described as "very predictable terms."
The next day, Macron delivered a pointed rebuke to Trump in his speech at the UN General Assembly, both directly and implicitly criticizing the administration for its policies on Iran, climate change, the UN, migration and Mideast peace. On trade, Macron declared, "bilateral agreements, new protectionisms, will not work."
It was not the first time that Trump had tussled on trade during a meeting with a European counterpart. In discussions in April, Trump accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel of being "so protectionist" in her trade policies, and again raised the issue of German automobiles flooding into the United States.
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