Trump and Macron meeting: Friendship, debates and big differences over Ukraine!
US President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron showed stark differences on Monday in their approach to Ukraine, exposing a divide between the United States and Europe over Trump's offer for a quick ceasefire deal with Russia.
During a day of talks between the two leaders, Trump and Macron displayed a friendly rapport based on years of good relations. But Macron made it clear that he disagreed with Trump on several key issues, as they marked three years since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Trump refused to refer to Russian President Vladimir Putin as a dictator, after calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy a dictator last week. Macron said it was clear that Russia "is the aggressor" in the conflict, a topic Trump wavered on last week. "President Putin violated the peace," Macron said at a joint news conference with Trump.
Trump expressed a desire for a ceasefire as soon as possible and said he was trying to arrange a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia. He said he might go to Moscow to meet with Putin once a deal is reached.
Macron, on the other hand, called for a more deliberate approach, starting with a ceasefire and then a peace deal that includes security guarantees. "We want peace, he wants peace. We want quick peace, but we don't want a deal that is weak," Macron told reporters.
Any peace agreement, he said, must be "assessed, checked and verified." The two leaders agreed, however, to the deployment of European peacekeeping forces once a peace deal is reached. "They would not be on the front lines. They would not be part of any conflict. They would be there to guarantee respect for peace," Macron said earlier in the Oval Office with Trump.
Trump said he accepts the concept, as does Putin. “Yes, he would accept that,” Trump said of Putin’s position on a peacekeeping force. “I asked him that question specifically. He has no problem with it.” Macron, the first European leader to visit Trump since he regained power a month ago, called his discussions with Trump “a turning point” in the push for a more unified approach.
Macron is trying to capitalize on a relationship with Trump built during their first presidential terms. The French leader showed how he has managed to deal with the unpredictable Trump without alienating him. At one point during their meeting in the Oval Office, Macron touched Trump’s arm and carefully corrected the US president’s claim that Europe had given all its aid as loans.
Trump reported progress on reaching a revenue-sharing agreement with Ukraine on Ukrainian minerals as a way to offset the cost of arms dumped on Ukraine by the previous Biden administration. Trump said he expected Zelenskiy to come to the United States this week or next week to sign the agreement.
Trump and his team have negotiated a mineral revenue-sharing deal with Ukraine to recover some of the money the previous Biden administration had sent to Kiev in the form of weapons to repel Russia.
Zelenskiy last week rejected U.S. demands for $500 billion in mineral wealth from Ukraine to repay Washington for wartime aid, saying the United States had not supplied anywhere near that amount so far and had not offered specific security guarantees in the deal.
Trump, asked if it was possible that Ukraine might have to cede territory to Russia, said: "Well, we'll see." Macron said any deal must include sovereignty for Ukraine. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will also visit Trump later in the week, amid alarm in Europe over Trump's tough stance on Ukraine and prodding at Moscow over the conflict.
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