- NATO leaders are meeting in the UK on Tuesday and Wednesday.
- The summit kicked off just as awkwardly as expected, with President Donald Trump attacking French Emmanuel Macron for saying last month that NATO was going brain-dead.
- In a Tuesday-morning press conference, Trump spiraled into a tirade on France’s domestic economy and new digital-services tax, which the US is threatening to retaliate against with fresh tariffs.
- Other world leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, had already criticized Macron for his comments.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
NATO’s 70th-anniversary summit has kicked off just as awkwardly as expected, with President Donald Trump complaining about the US’s defense contribution and attacking French President Emmanuel Macron for his “very, very nasty statement” describing the group as brain-dead.
Macron had courted controversy and criticism from NATO allies last month after telling The Economist that the defense alliance was experiencing a “brain death.”
His comments came while discussing Trump’s withdrawal of US troops from northeastern Syria in October, which paved the way for Turkey – a NATO member – to invade to fight Kurdish forces. Macron also slammed Trump for not warning NATO of his troop pullout.
Multiple world leaders have attacked Macron for the interview, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel telling him she kept having to "glue together the cups you have broken," and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan separately addressing him: "You should check whether you are brain-dead first."
Trump joined the fray Tuesday morning while sitting next to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg at a press conference in London, attacking what he called Macron's "insulting" and "very, very nasty statement."
The US president then spiraled into a tirade against France's domestic politics, including comments on the country's unemployment rate and yearlong "yellow vest" protests against Macron's pro-business economic policies.
"I think that's very insulting."
US President @realDonaldTrump says it was "disrespectful" for French President @EmmanuelMacron to describe NATO as experiencing 'brain death'.
Read more on this story: https://t.co/WsQL9LhgIw pic.twitter.com/JnPMFtvuBJ
— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 3, 2019
"When you make a statement like that, a very, very nasty statement ... You have a really high unemployment rate in France. France is not doing well economically at all," Trump said.
"It's a very tough statement to make when you have such difficulty in France," he added. "You look at what's happening with the yellow vests ... They've had a very rough year.
"You can't just go around making statements like that about NATO. It's very disrespectful."
Trump added that "nobody needs NATO more than France," without specifying why, and said "the one that benefits the least is the US."
While discussing NATO's unity later in the conference, Trump also added: "I can see France breaking off."
Trump insisted he still had a good relationship with Macron, whom he repeatedly called "Emmanuel." But his remarks indicate their rapport has deteriorated dramatically since the two leaders shared lengthy handshakes and Trump picked dandruff off Macron's shoulder to prepare him for a photo.
NATO's 70th-anniversary summit, scheduled to run through Wednesday, was expected to be an awkward affair.
Macron is proving himself increasingly unpopular among NATO allies. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is also limiting his appearances with Trump this week amid fears that the US president could jeopardize his chances of winning the coming UK general election.
At the same time, Turkey is edging closer to Russia - which NATO was set up to protect the West against in 1949 - after the two countries brokered a peace deal to jointly patrol northeastern Syria, and is considering importing more defense systems.
Trump on Tuesday also ripped on France for its new digital-services tax, which affects US tech companies, and threatened retaliation.
"They're starting to tax other people's products, therefore we're going to tax them - that's just taking place right now, in technology and we're doing their wines and everything else," he said.
The US trade representative on Monday proposed taxes on French products, including wine and cheese, in response to France's 3% tax on tech companies that was signed into law in July.
France's finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, on Tuesday called the proposed tariffs "unacceptable" and "not worthy of an ally."
During Tuesday's press conference, Trump also celebrated NATO's increasing defense contributions from member states and decreasing those by the US.
He has since his presidential campaign railed against what he perceives as the US's outsize contribution to the alliance, and on Monday he claimed victory for an increase in other countries' defense spending in recent years.
But as Business Insider's John Haltiwanger pointed out, NATO countries had actually committed to increasing their defense contributions since 2014, when President Barack Obama was in office.
- Read more:
- NATO braces for an awkward summit as Boris Johnson tells Trump to butt out of UK politics, Russia edges closer to Europe, and Macron calls the group brain-dead
- Trump keeps criticizing NATO allies over spending. Here's how NATO's budget actually works
- Boris Johnson is trying to keep his distance from Donald Trump amid fears the US President could blow up his election campaign
- It's getting harder for NATO to hide that Turkey's becoming 'a thorn in everyone's side'
