Donald Trump dished to The Submit on the power-grip handshakes he shared with French President Emanuel Macon throughout their assembly over the weekend — with the President-Elect insisting it was no huge deal.
“It’s only a agency shake. He understands that. It’s only a agency shake,” Trump instructed The Submit.
Their handshakes turned the speak on-line Saturday after they met up earlier than Notre-Dame cathedral’s re-opening ceremony in Paris, with Trump administering two notably aggressive iterations of his attribute grip as he and Macron posed for the press.
Throughout their first shake, Trump grabbed Macron’s hand in a decent fist and pulled him in shut for an embrace, earlier than holding the French president’s hand for an prolonged time as photographers snapped away.
Later, Trump clasped Macron in an over-handed grip and angled his arm nicely above the French president in a distinctly domineering pose.
However the pair additionally talked coverage, with Trump saying they have been in settlement about NATO nations “paying their fare share” in direction of the European army alliance.
“I mentioned NATO is nice so long as they pay their payments, however they gotta pay their payments, as a result of , once I received concerned with NATO no one paid, after which they paid after I received concerned,” Trump instructed The Submit.
The presidents beforehand sparred over NATO throughout Trump’s final time period, with Macron in 2019 saying US management had left the alliance “mind lifeless.”
Trump, in flip, referred to as members of the alliance “delinquent” for his or her contributions to its protection price range, and evoked the primary and second world wars to assert France wanted NATO greater than another European nation.
Now it appears the 2 leaders try to make amends forward of a brand new Trump period.
“He agrees with me,” Trump mentioned, including that he complimented Macron on the the work France did restoring the Notre-Dame after it was ravaged by a devastating fireplace in 2019.
“He’s a superb man, he did a superb job,” Trump mentioned.
“I instructed him, ‘You haven’t any thought how good a job you probably did on that chapel.’ That’s very onerous to do. Painstaking.”
Supply hyperlink