Trump and Macron Cement Unlikely Friendship in Bastille Day Visit
By MAGGIE HABERMANJULY 14, 2017
JULY 14, 2017
PARIS — With a warm clasping of hands, President Trump and President Emmanuel Macron of France cemented an unlikely
but budding relationship on Friday, capped by a Bastille Day military parade in Paris meant to emphasize the alliance between the United States and its oldest ally.
Despite some wariness in the initial contacts between Mr. Trump, 71,
and Mr. Macron — who at 39 is the same age as Mr. Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. — the American leader’s two-day visit to France ended on a high note.
The parade also celebrated the 100th anniversary of America’s entry into World War I. Mr. Trump sat between his wife
and Mr. Macron on the presidential viewing stand, an overhang shading them from the baking sun.
But Mr. Macron and his wife, Brigitte, beguiled Mr. Trump
and his wife, Melania, with red-carpet treatment and catered to Mr. Trump’s well-known penchant for military displays of power, which were woven into the Bastille Day parade they attended before flying home.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Macron have sharply differing views on a range of issues, most notably
the Paris accord, the climate change pact that Mr. Trump renounced six weeks ago.
Mr. Trump talked excitedly to Mr. Macron as a variety of World War I-era tanks rolled to a stop near the viewing stand.
Around 10 a.m. Friday, Mr. Trump and Mr. Macron arrived for the Bastille Day festivities in their motorcades.