Macron says long Trump handshake ‘not innocent’

Holding onto U.S. president's hand showed he won't make even small concessions, French leader explains.

U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron shake hands ahead of a working lunch | Peter Dejong/AFP via Getty Images

French President Emmanuel Macron said his extended handshake with Donald Trump before a NATO summit was “not innocent” and intended to show he did not make even small concessions.

In an interview with the Journal du Dimanche published on Sunday, the French leader said his interaction with the American head of state was “a moment of truth.”

“My handshake with him was not innocent,” Macron said. “We need to show that we won’t make small concessions, even symbolic ones, while not overhyping things either.”

In the interview, Macron went on to compare Trump’s attitude to power with that of Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

“Donald Trump, the Turkish president or the Russian president believe in the logic of the trial of strength, which doesn’t bother me. I don’t believe in the diplomacy of public invective, but in my bilateral dialogues, I don’t let anything pass, that is how we are respected,” he said.

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