Presidents Trump and Macron exchange warmth in Paris

World Today

France celebrated Bastille Day with an honorary guest from America. U.S. President Trump was there, right alongside French President Emmanuel Macron. Handshakes and warm exchanges sum up Trump’s two-day visit to Paris.

CGTN’s Kate Parkinson reports.

The French certainly know how to put on a show. Thousands of French troops marched down the Champs-Elysees in Paris, as helicopters and fighter jets roared overhead, during the annual Bastille Day military parade.

U.S. President Donald Trump appeared thrilled to be the guest of honor at the spectacle. The parade concludes a visit that could mark the start of a new era of relations between France and the United States.

“On this 14th of July, we celebrate France, celebrate what unites us, we celebrate this absolute attachment to independence,” said French President Emmanuel Macron.

He continued on to thank President Trump: “The presence today of the President of the United States and his wife at my side is the sign of a friendship that goes through the ages. I want to thank them, thank the United States of America, for their choice made 100 years ago.”

But not everyone is happy that the U.S. president is in town. Elsewhere in the French capital dozens gathered to protest against Trump’s visit.

“We were just protesting a bunch of the things that Trump has been implementing or standing for that we don’t stand for or don’t agree with such as the climate change, pulling out of the climate change conference, and standing against the rights of immigrants and being misogynistic,” said one protester.

Bastille Day commemorates the start of the French Revolution. But this year also marks 100 years since the United States joined the First World War and for the first time U.S. troops were leading the parade.

France and the United States are old military allies and while Presidents Macron and Trump don’t see eye-to-eye on many issues, this visit has been an opportunity for both leaders to stress that military matters and counter terrorism remain at the bedrock of French-US relations.


William Keylor on Trump’s Bastille Day visit

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