French President Emmanuel Macron, who is in the US for a three-day state visit, has made much of his “special relationship” with US President Donald Trump. In a recent interview with Fox News Sunday, Mr. Macron attributed their bond to the fact that they are both “mavericks of the system.”
Mr. Macron told Chris Wallace, the host of Fox News Sunday, that he and Mr. Trump see eye to eye on “some of the very critical” world issues such as fighting ISIS’ terrorism. He also said that their bond partly came about because of unexpected triumphs in their respective elections.
He said, “I think President Trump’s election was unexpected in your country, and probably my election was unexpected in my country. We are not part of the classical political system.”
Mr. Macron also mentioned that the strength of his relationship with the US leader is due to various meetings between the two, particularly Mr. Trump’s visit to France during Bastille Day last year.
The visit to Washington, Mr. Macron’s first, is expected to be marked by an exchange of gifts. The French leader will be giving Mr. Trump a young tree from a World War I battle site, and Mr. Trump, in turn, will gift Mr. Macron with a framed upholstery of a chair from the White House.
Mr. Macron talked about Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, in his interview. The French president said that Mr. Putin is “obsessed by interference in our democracies,” and that the approach to him must be a strong one.
“I do believe that we should never be weak with President Putin. When you are weak, he uses it. And it’s fine. That’s a game, that he made a lot of fake news. He has a very strong propaganda, and he intervenes everywhere… to fragilize our democracies. Because he thinks it’s good for his country.”