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French President Emmanuel Macron says Australia's wartime cooperation with France is a powerful message as global nationalism rises.

Macron spoke at Sydney's main war memorial Wednesday on his visit to Australia a week after he criticized President Donald Trump's "America first" policies on a trip to Washington and hours after a gathering in France of European anti-immigration populist leaders.

Macron thanked Australia for sending "a huge part of its population" to fight in France in both world wars.

He said the memory of Australian sacrifice in France was "a powerful message at a time when nationalism is looming, entrenched behind its borders and its hostility to the rest of the world."

He added: "No great nation has ever been built by turning its back on the world."