Turning away

Macron: US is ‘turning away’ from allies

“We are evolving in a world of great powers, where there’s a real temptation to carve up the world,” the French president says.

By Clea Caulcutt

French President Emmanuel Macron criticized the Trump administration for defying the rules-based global order after toppling Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and renewing threats to annex Greenland.

“The United States is an established power that is gradually turning away from some of its allies and breaking free from the international rules that it used to promote,” Macron said during his annual foreign policy address.

Macron used the speech to paint an image of predatory global powers seeking to divide the world into spheres of influence, with the U.S. dominating Western Hemisphere under the so-called Donroe Doctrine. He did, however, strike a positive tone on Washington’s diplomatic efforts to bring the war in Ukraine to an end.

“We are evolving in a world of great powers, where there’s a real temptation to carve up the world,” he said. “What has happened these last few months, and sometimes last few days, does not diminish this assessment.”

The French president initially came under fire for his emollient reaction to Maduro’s ouster. He wrote online that the Venezuela “can only rejoice” at his departure, omitting to mention whether the method broke international law. 

In his speech Thursday, Macron accused the U.S. of breaking rules on trade and “some elements of security.”

“Every day, people are wondering if Greenland will be invaded, or whether Canada will face the threat of becoming the 51st [U.S.] state,” he said.

The French president did not specifically mention Venezuela, but the situation in Caracas and in Greenland are both top concerns for Paris, which is helping to craft a European response to Trump’s threats against the self-ruling Danish territory.

Macron said that Europe must respond by refusing to accept what he called “new colonialism” by further investing in the continent’s “strategic autonomy.”

The French president has preached for years that Europe should lessen its dependence on the United States and China, but this recent call risks ringing hollow to European partners worried about Macron’s weakness at home.

Macron is entering the final full calendar year of his presidency hobbled by a hung parliament and poor polling numbers. Protests by farmers in Paris over the European Union’s potential trade deal with the Mercosur bloc threaten to further undermine his leadership.

The Latin American trade accord is extremely unpopular in France, but Paris looks unlikely to be able to block it ahead of a crucial vote by EU member countries on Friday.

In his speech, Macron said that Europe needs to protect its borders with trade deals that include stronger safeguards clauses and mirror clauses.

“When you impose rules on your producers … and then you open yourself to markets that don’t respect these rules, you won’t garner massive support from your producers,” he said.

“Common sense dictates that you should listen to them,” Macron added.