How did Emmanuel Macron respond to Trump's comments on the 2018 France trip?
Executive summary
Emmanuel Macron pushed back both privately and publicly after friction with Donald Trump stemming from tensions that date back to the November 11, 2018 Armistice Day exchange — when Macron warned about nationalism in Trump’s presence and Trump took it as a personal rebuke — and in later disputes about Greenland, trade and multilateralism; Macron’s responses ranged from a private text that Trump later published to forceful public denunciations of coercive U.S. behaviour and calls for European defensive measures [1] [2] [3]. Macron framed his stance as defence of a rules-based international order, warning against “neocolonial aggressiveness,” urging Europe not to “give in to bullies,” and pressing the EU to consider retaliatory trade tools [4] [5] [3] [6].
1. The 2018 Paris moment that set the frame
Macron’s November 11, 2018 speech marking the centenary of the end of World War I included a public warning about the dangers of nationalism delivered in Trump’s presence, a line the U.S. president interpreted as a thinly veiled critique of his “America First” approach; that exchange has been widely cited as the origin point of a repeatedly tense personal and diplomatic dynamic between the two leaders [1] [7].
2. Private messages made public — diplomacy upended
When Trump later posted screenshots of private texts from Macron (and other European leaders) on his Truth Social account, it exposed Macron’s attempts at traditional, discreet diplomacy — including an invitation to dinner and a curt, puzzled note about Greenland — and forced those private overtures into the public arena, undermining their intended confidentiality [2] [8] [9].
3. Macron’s public rebuttal: Europe will not be intimidated
On the Davos stage and in other public remarks, Macron openly accused the United States under Trump of breaking with the rules-based order and warned that Europe must not “passively accept the law of the strongest,” declaring that Europe would not “give in to bullies or be intimidated” and invoking the risk of “vassalization” if it did [3] [10] [11].
4. From rhetoric to policy pressure: the anti-coercion response
Macron did not confine himself to rhetoric; he urged the EU to use its Anti-Coercion Instrument — sometimes called the “trade bazooka” — to retaliate against threats such as punitive tariffs, positioning France to push for concrete countermeasures to perceived U.S. economic coercion [3] [6].
5. A broader diplomatic critique: “turning away” from allies and neocolonial warnings
In France’s annual diplomatic address and other forums, Macron broadened his critique beyond specific insults, charging that the U.S. was “gradually turning away from some of its allies” and warning of a new form of “neocolonial aggressiveness,” language that cast the dispute as systemic rather than merely personal [4] [5].
6. Tactical correction and visible friction in joint settings
Beyond high-level critiques, Macron has engaged Trump directly in public moments — for example, interrupting or correcting him on factual points like European financial support for Ukraine — signalling both readiness to contest narrative claims and willingness to confront misstatements in bilateral settings [12].
7. Two narratives and an asymmetry of style
Observers and diplomats noted an asymmetry: Macron practices “classic diplomacy” — quiet negotiation, coalition-building and institutional leverage — while Trump’s inclination to broadcast private exchanges on social media has repeatedly upended those tactics, turning discreet offers into public flashpoints [2] [9]. Analysts warn this dynamic makes it difficult for European leaders to set independent agendas rather than reacting to Trump’s moves [1] [7].
8. Limits of available reporting
The sources document Macron’s private text that was published by Trump, Macron’s public speeches condemning U.S. behaviour, and his policy nudges toward EU countermeasures, but they do not provide an exhaustive catalogue of every one-on-one exchange or the full internal calculus at the Élysée; where reporting is silent, this account does not speculate beyond the documented remarks and actions [8] [3] [4].