President Donald Trump has taunted French President Emmanuel Macron over French Islamist fighters in Syria, asking him if he would like “some nice ISIS fighters” sent back to France.

On Tuesday morning, President Trump had criticised Mr Macron for his “nasty” comments about NATO, who last month had said the defence union was suffering a “brain death”. But the rift appeared to be lifted during the afternoon’s bilateral press meeting between the two world leaders, with the American president ribbing the French premier over his commitment to accept returning foreign fighters.

President Trump told reporters that he had not yet raised with President Macron his repeated calls for European countries to take their citizens home, with the terrorists currently in U.S. custody in Syria.

“We have a tremendous amount of captured fighters ISIS fighters over in Syria, and they’re all under lock and key. But many are from France, many are from Germany, many of them are from the UK.

“They [foreign fighters] are mostly from Europe. Some of the countries are agreeing [to take custody of them].

“I have not spoken to the president about that. Would you like some nice ISIS fighters? I can give them to you. You can take every one you want.”

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