Trump's Critical Tweets: Macron Has Very Low Popularity

The President of the United States, two days after returning from a trip to Paris, tweeted against his French counterpart, stating that Emmanuel Macron's problem is his unpopularity in his own country, which is ironically 'the most nationalistic country' itself, France. On Tuesday, November 13, Donald Trump referred to Mr. Macron's recent comments about forming a European army against China, Russia, and even the United States, reminding that it was Germany that opposed France in both World Wars, and the French had started learning German until the United States got involved. He wrote: 'Emmanuel Macron has suggested establishing his own army to defend Europe against the United States, China, and Russia. In World War I and II, the threat was from Germany - what was the situation for France then? In Paris, they had started learning German until the United States entered the scene. Either pay for NATO or don’t.' The U.S. President returned from Paris on Sunday, a trip commemorating the 100th anniversary of World War I attended by dozens of world leaders. Upon arriving in Paris, he had already called Mr. Macron's remarks 'very insulting' but the Élysée Palace announced that there had been a misunderstanding and that Mr. Macron meant that Europe should reduce its reliance on the U.S. for defense. However, in his tweets on Tuesday, Trump revisited this topic and referred to his administration's policy regarding NATO, which asks Europe to pay a larger share of NATO costs. In another tweet, he brought up the issue of wine trade between the two countries, stating, 'France produces excellent wine, but the problem is that it makes conditions for U.S. wine exports to this country very difficult and imposes heavy tariffs, while the U.S. has made it easier for French wine imports with very minimal tariffs, which is not fair and this situation must change.' Trump then stated, 'The problem is that Emmanuel's popularity rating in France is very low, 26%, and the unemployment rate is nearly 10%. He has tried to change the subject. By the way, no country is more nationalistic than France; the French people are very proud of their country, and they have the right to be!' The Gallup Institute has reported Trump's popularity rating in the U.S. at 38%. The U.S. President continued by referring to Emmanuel Macron's statements calling for the denial of nationalism in the world, saying, 'No country is as nationalistic as France itself, with very proud people, and rightly so.' Trump ultimately reiterated his campaign slogan in relation to France, writing: 'Make France Great Again!' Emmanuel Macron's office stated on Tuesday that the French President would not respond to the tweets. Source: Donald Trump's Twitter page, Reuters, and Gallup.