WASHINGTON — Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron brought their public friendship to new heights during a Washington encounter this week — embracing, touching hands and even sharing a fraternal kiss.

The shows of affection culminated Tuesday, half-way through Macron's three-day state visit to the United States, when the U.S. president clasped the French leader's hand and planted a kiss on his cheek, announcing to the world's press corps that he "really likes this guy."

But behind the displays of warmth, Trump offered few actual concessions to his guest's policy agenda, leaving him and Europe at large in a state of uncertainty on a range of hot-button strategic and commercial matters.

On the Iran nuclear accord, which Trump has threatened to tear up; on the future security situation in Syria, where Trump has said he wants to quickly withdraw all U.S. troops; on the threat of trade tariffs, where an exemption for the European Union is due to expire next month — Trump moved little off his initial positions. That's despite Macron's announcement Tuesday of a "new deal" with Iran that would replace one that Trump has threatened to abandon by May 12.

“I’m not going to say what I’ll do, even if you have an inkling” — U.S. President Donald Trump told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron

As for the Trump-Macron friendship, the Washington encounter made it look more like a one-way street than one founded on common views.

"We made proposals, we advanced arguments," said a senior adviser to the French president on the condition of anonymity, summing up more than two hours of discussions between the French and U.S. leaders Tuesday. "I think they had a discussion that went in the right direction."

The official declined to say how Trump had responded to Macron's arguments on trade tariffs, Iran or Syria, adding only that Trump has agreed to the need for a global solution concerning Iran's involvement in various regional conflicts.

New Iran deal, or no Iran deal?

That cautious tone contrasted with Macron's enthusiasm from the stump during his joint press conference with Trump.

Hailing "major advancements" on strategic issues, Macron announced a "new deal" on Iran that would complement the one that Trump had savaged minutes earlier in comments that seemed to take the French president by surprise.

Macron said that France had presented a new framework for a deal that would address U.S. concerns on four points: the development of ballistic missiles, "sunset clauses" covering the expiration of certain sanctions against Iran, verification of Iran's nuclear and weapons programs and its role in neighboring countries, namely Syria and Yemen.

The Trump-Merkel encounter is unlikely to bring the same display of affection as with Macron.

Such a "new deal" would not replace the current one, but expand on it. "We're not going to tear up an accord to go nowhere, we're going to build a new accord that's broader," said Macron, adding that he still saw no "Plan B" to the Obama-era deal with Iran. Trump welcomed the proposals and said he had taken on the French leader's idea that any accord would have to address Iran's regional role.

But Trump stopped short of saying that the United States had signed on to the new deal, or that he would keep Washington in the current one before a May 12 deadline. "I'm not going to say what I'll do, even if you have an inkling," he said, turning to the French president.

Instead Trump attacked a deal that "should never have been done," blasting "previous administrations'" efforts to resolve the standoff with Iran. The lack of commitment left open the possibility that Trump would pull the United States out the current deal on May 12 — a scenario that French diplomats previously warned could endanger regional security, and invite other powers, namely Israel, to act preemptively against Tehran.

Asked whether other European states had signed on to the French proposal, the senior aide said that Macron had spoken to British and German leaders about it before coming to the United States. "We advanced a proposal that would avoid us ending up with nothing," said the aide, who added that Iran was not favorable to overhauling the accord, or renegotiating any of its parts.

On Syria, where the French president said that he had "convinced" Trump to keep American troops on the ground for a longer period, the U.S. leader was similarly non-committal. He said that while he wanted to "get them out," he recognized that removing all military assets would leave a window open to other countries, particularly Iran, to deepen their influence in Syria, and that U.S. troops would not leave "right away."

Trade tensions intact

Another major issue in focus for the trip was Trump's trade tariffs, and an exemption for the European Union set to expire in May. While both leaders underscored the need for "reciprocity" in trade, the U.S. president made no commitment to extend the exemption or make it permanent.

During their discussions, an aide said that Macron had pressed the point that "we cannot conceive of a trade war among allies," and that France would only speak "in concert with Europe" on trade.

"We put across the point that the exemptions should be extended," added the aide, who sat in on discussions with senior U.S. officials following Macron's bilateral talks with Trump.

Underscoring "progress" on commercial issues, French officials pointed to U.S. commitments to delay the implementation of sanctions targeting Russian oligarchs by six months as a direct response to French concerns that such measures would hurt their companies. "There was a desire to understand our concerns, to take them into account," said the aide.

But on trade, the officials got no firm commitment from Trump that Europe would be exempt from the tariffs. As Macron rounded out his visit to the United States — with an address to Congress planned for Wednesday in which he would emphasize "democratic values" — issues opposing the EU to the United States will be left for German Chancellor Angela Merkel to address when she travels to the United States on Friday.

The Trump-Merkel encounter is unlikely to bring the same display of affection as with Macron. But the German leader faces the same underlying challenge with the American president: lifting the cloud of uncertainty that hangs over U.S.-EU relations.