Trump calls on Macron to take France out of the European Union
(Baonghean.vn) - US President Donald Trump appears to be looking to break up the European Union (EU), as multiple sources revealed he told his counterpart Emmanuel Macron that France should leave the bloc.
| US President Trump and French President Macron sat next to each other during a bilateral meeting at the G7 Summit in Canada on June 8. Photo: Reuters |
According to an article published in the Washington Post on June 28, Trump said the US would offer France a bilateral trade deal if Mr. Macron agreed to lead one of the founding members of the EU out of the organization.
According to author Josh Rogin, who is also a CNN analyst, when Macron visited the White House in April, Trump asked, “Why don’t you leave the EU?” Rogin cited two unnamed European officials to make this shocking information.
According to Rogin, Trump then offered Macron a better bilateral trade deal than the one currently in place between the US and the EU. The White House declined to comment on the matter, according to the Post.
Although Rogin does not mention Macron’s reaction, the likelihood of France leaving the European project is extremely slim. France is a founding member of the bloc and, along with Germany, one of its main driving forces. Macron himself is an outspoken supporter of the EU, emphasizing during the 2017 election campaign that the union, while in need of reform and revitalization, is irreplaceable.
Of course, not all French people agree with this view. Far-right leader Marine Le Pen promised a referendum on EU membership if she won last year’s presidential race. Mr Macron eventually defeated Le Pen handily, but a small minority of Eurosceptics still linger in the country.
Trump and Europe have had a rocky relationship. Even before the US president started a trade war between the two economic giants, he had always shown no interest in the massive continental project. He has links with pro-Brexit parties in the UK and has previously said that the shock decision to leave the bloc “would end up being a great thing”.
President Trump has repeatedly criticized America’s alliances and international agreements, from NATO to NAFTA to the Paris Agreement. Whether coincidentally or deliberately, these positions share common ground with Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom Trump is scheduled to meet for the first time in Helsinki on July 16.
Trump will fly to Helsinki immediately after attending the NATO summit in Brussels. After the recent G7 meeting in Canada, when Trump threatened host Prime Minister Justin Trudeau before flying to Singapore to meet with the North Korean leader, NATO allies are concerned that the US president's attitude could destabilize the alliances that have underpinned Western multilateralism for decades.