The Head of State followed the results of the American elections very closely on the night of November 5 to 6. If Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron already worked together between 2017 and 2020, their relations have deteriorated in recent years.
An election scrutinized with great attention. On deck this night to follow the results of the polls in the United States, Emmanuel Macron was one of the first leaders to send his “congratulations” to Donald Trump after his victory against Kamala Harris in the American presidential election.
At work in the aisles of the Élysée: a monitoring unit mobilized all night at the Élysée to report minute by minute the results state by state, according to information from BFMTV. Enough to allow the president to see Donald Trump's advantage increase as the night goes on against his competitor Kamala Harris.
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“We will obviously work with the new administration”
The campaign was tight until the end across the Atlantic, before the first results began to fall around 1 a.m. French time. Kentucky, North Carolina, one of the key states to win the election, Georgia… The first results quickly showed the lead of the former President of the United States before finally largely swinging, ensuring it to be elected president.
“Whatever happens, we will obviously work with the new administration,” assured in advance a close friend of the president during the night, while recalling “the demands” of Emmanuel Macron vis-à-vis “the Americans”.
Even before Donald Trump's victory, a member of his entourage still recalled “the importance of European sovereignty”, stating in fact that whoever wins at the end of the night, Brussels should fight to have influence over Washington .
Fluctuating relations between Trump and Macron
During a speech on Europe at the Sorbonne last April, Emmanuel Macron accused the United States of “no longer respecting trade rules”, accusing them of “over-subsidising” their own economy.
He called on European countries to be “less naive”. Donald Trump has already promised to significantly increase customs duties on products from Europe.
Relations between Emmanuel Macron and the American leader went through several stages before deeply disintegrating. After a ferocious handshake widely commented on for their very first public meeting in Brussels in May 2017 and skirmishes on both sides over the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris climate agreements, the French head of state had worked for a rapprochement.
Donald Trump was thus received with great fanfare on the occasion of July 14, 2017, culminating in a dinner at the top of the Eiffel Tower, allowing Emmanuel Macron to establish himself as the privileged interlocutor of Americans on the scene. European.
Trump taunts
Relations then weakened significantly, until the assault on the Capitol in January 2021. If Donald Trump had exchanged at length with Éric Zemmour during the 2022 presidential campaign, Donald Trump had not formally called for people to vote for him. He even made it known that “Macron was a nice guy”, according to information from Le Parisien confirmed by BFMTV.
In recent months, however, the American has not spared the tenant of the Élysée, accusing him in the middle of a meeting of “licking the ass” of China or making fun of his American accent during an imitation of a phone call that the two men allegedly had together.
On the Élysée side, we turn our backs by recalling that Emmanuel Macron had already worked for several years alongside Donald Trump. A future meeting should not take place before the official inauguration of the new tenant of the White House next January.
Marie-Pierre Bourgeois and Léopold Audebert
