"There are leaders who change their minds, but it's not my case," was the response of French President Emmanuel Macron to the personal attacks from Donald Trump after his "walkout" at the G7 summit. The U.S. president accused Macron of "seeking the limelight" and "having no clue" about his position on the conflict between Israel and Iran. "Emmanuel always gets it wrong", was one of the latest invectives launched by Trump against the Elysée tenant on his Truth Social network.
"The ceasefire was the main topic of conversation with Trump (during the G7 summit)," emphasized Macron, who even mentioned that there was an offer on the table, while the U.S. president was already aligning with Israel and issuing an ultimatum to Iran.
"It doesn't bother me," warned the French president in response to Trump's disparagements. "It was just an incident... It won't be the first or the last," he admitted after stating that he "knows" his counterpart.
Macron managed to establish a relative bond with Trump during his first term, but relations between the two have significantly deteriorated at the beginning of the second term, despite that "hand-holding" session at the White House that now seems too distant.
Macron's policy towards the Middle East, especially his frustrated intention to join an international conference in New York to recognize the state of Palestine, raised alarms in Washington. Attempts at rapprochement through Trump's initiative to seek a peace agreement in Ukraine also fell through.
The French president ultimately turned Trump against him with his recent stopover in Greenland on his way to the G7, where he expressed "European solidarity" against the American president's annexation threats: "Greenland is neither for sale nor for taking!"