Donald Trump has once again accused France of wanting to build a European army to protect itself from the USA after apparently misunderstanding Emmanuel Macron for the second time in less than a week.
The US President claimed his French counterpart had suggesting building a European Army “to protect Europe against the US, China and Russia”.
He added: “But it was Germany in World Wars One & Two – How did that work out for France?
“They were starting to learn German in Paris before the US came along. Pay for NATO or not!”
It’s almost identical to a tweet he sent on Friday in which he claimed the same idea was “very insulting”.
After the first tweet, an official in Macron’s office said Trump lumped together two different comments by the French president, and that the issue would be discussed at a meeting held on Saturday.
President Macron said in an interview earlier this week that Europe needs to protect itself against “China, Russia and even the United States” in terms of cyberspace.
Later, President Macron reiterated that Europe needs to build up its own military because it can no longer depend on the US for defence.
Macron has already clarified his comments made last week, saying: “I do share President Trump’s views that we need a much better burden sharing with Nato and that’s why I do believe that my proposal for a European defence is utterly consistent with that.”
Trump appears to have either missed or ignored the explanation, throwing in a reminder of France’s military performance in 1941 in for good measure.
The US President then continued the onslaught against Macron in a series of tweets in which he slated his approval ratings and praised France’s nationalist movement.
He ended with “MAKE FRANCE GREAT AGAIN”.