President Trump ignited a fresh diplomatic row on the opening morning of a NATO meeting in London by accusing French President Emmanuel Macron of insulting members of the alliance.
During a breakfast meeting with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Trump set an angry tone for the next 48 hours, saying Macron had been “disrespectful” in saying that NATO was “brain dead” before attacking his standing in France.
Macron’s comments came after Turkey launched an operation in northern Syria against Kurdish forces without warning allies.
On his first full day in London, Trump said: “I think that is very insulting to a lot of different forces.
“It is a very, very nasty statement. I think they have a very high unemployment rate in France. France is not doing well economically at all.
“It is a very tough statement to make when you have such difficulty in France when you look at what is going on with the yellow vests.
“They have had a very rough year. You just can’t go around making statements like that about NATO. It is very disrespectful.”
His early intervention could derail hopes of a harmonious meeting to mark the 70th anniversary of the alliance.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is hosting the event, is expected to underline the importance of NATO unity.
“It is the cornerstone of Euro-Atlantic security, and it helps to keep a billion people safe,” said his spokesman.
However, the decision to hold a “leaders meeting” rather than a full-blown summit over several days is seen as an attempt to avoid awkward disagreements over Ukraine and Turkey in particular.
The formal portion of the meeting will begin with a reception at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday evening.
The policy portion of the event has been reduced to a three-hour plenary session on Wednesday morning at The Grove, a luxury hotel in Watford, just outside London. Each leader will be afforded only five minutes to address the private forum.
The fallout from Turkey’s incursion, and its decision to buy Russian air defense systems, will be among the hot topics for delegations. Both moves were seen as strengthening Russian influence in the region at the expense of NATO.
Trump’s decision to remove American forces from the Syrian border region meant many allies blamed him for green-lighting the Turkish move without consulting them.
However, Stoltenberg has also dismissed Macron’s criticism.
“NATO is active. NATO is agile. NATO is adapting. We have just implemented the largest reinforcement of collective defense since the Cold War,” he said.
