US president grips and grimaces as he meets new French leader for first time in Brussels – then barges aside the prime minister of Montenegro

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

It’s a question that bears repeating: what is it with Trump and handshakes?

John Fraher (@johnfraher) Macron is literally crushing Trump's hand in the battle of the NATO handshakes. There's a new kid in town.... pic.twitter.com/sSZKSGIpdi

In the first of many strange Trump moments on Thursday, his first meeting with the French president, Emmanuel Macron, on Thursday led to an awkward handshake that lasted just a little too long. Pictures and video show the two world leaders, who met in Brussels before the Nato summit, gripping each other’s hands while grimacing slightly.

Philip Crowther (@PhilipinDC) Oh my. White House pooler @PhilipRucker's view of the Trump - Macron handshake in Brussels: knuckles turned white and faces tightened. pic.twitter.com/z16dpIfWhb

A delightful report from the White House pool reporter Philip Rucker described a handshake “with considerable intensity, their knuckles turning white and their jaws clenching and faces tightening”.

Department of State (@StateDept) .@POTUS meets with #France's President @EmmanuelMacron at the U.S. Ambassador's residence in Brussels.#POTUSAbroad pic.twitter.com/moxBCcUd0A

For a brief moment it seemed neither man wanted to give up, which would have made everything even more awkward, but in the end Trump relented and loosened his fingers.

The awkwardness may stem from Trump’s tacit support of Macron’s rival Marine Le Pen during the French election. In April, while he claimed he wasn’t “explicitly endorsing” Le Pen, he told the Associated Press she was the “strongest on borders, and she’s the strongest on what’s been going on in France”.

Between the infamy of Trump’s strange handshake and Macron’s apparent look of satisfaction, there was a lot for people to make fun of:

David Mack (@davidmackau) just a completely normal handshake between two men pic.twitter.com/H8ziROSPLv

Piers Scholfield (@inglesi) Colleague's description of Trump-Macron handshake. Quite something.. pic.twitter.com/KI7DAb382C

Miriam Elder (@MiriamElder) Best thing about this is not the handshake itself but Macron acting like it's totally normal 👋🏼 pic.twitter.com/nE15KO84yt

Rupert Myers (@RupertMyers) tfw you know you've bossed it pic.twitter.com/1sdyfjLwIX

Later in the day, there was a rematch between the two foes:

Calvin (@calvinstowell) Macron blows off Trump, Trump responds by trying to rip his arm off? This is insane. pic.twitter.com/cPlPg7N72X

In this video, Trump appears to be trying to shake Macron’s arm off after the French president bypassed him to say hello to Germany’s Angela Merkel first.

The US President didn’t stop there. In another widely circulated video, he appeared to push aside Dusko Markovic, the prime minister of Montenegro.

Trump’s distinctive handshake has been the source of much mirth on the internet as he meets world leaders in the first year of his presidency. This isn’t even the first instance this week. The president of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, was well-prepared for a handshake battle when he met Trump on Tuesday:

тем временем... (@a_imanaliev) Найден человек, который переиграл Трампа в рукопожатии pic.twitter.com/snhfDgJr2r

There are so many Trump handshake stories by now, it’s hard to know where to begin. There was the bizarre 19-second handshake with a visibly bewildered Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe, and the time the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, seemed to beat his strange handshake style.

It wasn’t a handshake that went viral when Trump met the British prime minister, Theresa May – everyone now remembers the infamous hand-holding picture. And when he met the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, he failed to shake her hand during a photo op.