French president Emmanuel Macron said the death of the tree was not symbolic

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

French president Emmanuel Macron has downplayed the death of an oak tree he planted with US president Donald Trump last year, saying people shouldn’t read symbols into everything and that he would send the American leader a new tree.

The two men celebrated the special relationship between the United States and France during Macron’s state visit in April 2018 to Washington by planting the oak sapling on the grounds of the White House.

It was put in quarantine because of fears parasites on the tree could spread to others on the White House property.

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US officials confirmed this weekend that it had died prompting comparisons with the difficult relationship the two leaders have had since the visit.

Macron has disagreed with Trump over his unilateralist approach to trade, climate change and a nuclear deal with Iran.

“We will send him another, it is not a tragedy,” Macron told Switzerland’s RTS network on the sidelines of an International Labour Organisation meeting in Geneva. “Do not see symbols where there are none, the symbol was to plant it together.”

The tree, from Belleau Wood in France where almost 2,000 American soldiers died in a World War One battle, had been dug up not long after it was planted.

“It turns out that this oak was put in quarantine for American sanitary reasons and the poor thing did not survive,” Macron said. “I’ll send another oak because I think the US Marines and the friendship for freedom between our peoples is well worth it.”