Paris: They were handshake rivals before President Donald Trump said the United States would withdraw from the Paris climate accord, and his relationship with President Emmanuel Macron of France didn't seem to get any better after that awkward beginning.

But Trump and Macron seem determined to put their strange and tense initial relationship behind them, in the service of a working partnership, and the love of a parade.

Trump arrived in Paris just after 8.30am on Thursday, beginning his second European trip in two weeks. The visit was set in motion by a call Macron had made to discuss Syria, in which he invited Trump to the Bastille Day celebrations on July 14. The president and the first lady, Melania Trump, landed at Paris Orly Airport on Air Force One to the reception of a 10-car motorcade.

One moment during the pleasantries between the American and French first couples was already drawing attention online though: Trump was captured remarking on the French president's wife's "shape" in a video posted by the French presidential Facebook account.