Macron’s Mission Impossible

French President Emmanuel Macron was in Washington this week in an attempt to put European priorities on US President Donald Trump’s radar. The focus of their three-hour discussion was the future of Ukraine, an especially urgent topic now that the United States has launched exclusive talks with Russia. Europe is aghast at being left out of negotiations that directly impact its own security. Leaders are so alarmed that Macron convened them in informal meetings in Paris twice in the week leading up to his trip. 

The French president’s US trip was formally a bilateral affair, though the mission was far broader: to ensure that Europe’s perspectives are taken into account. A few aspects of the meeting give reasons for cautious optimism. First, Trump did not contradict Macron when the latter referred to the meeting as a “turning point”, emphasized the need for Europeans to step up their engagement in their own security, and stated that the United States must “remain in solidarity” with Europe. Second, the overall tone of the leaders’ press conference was friendly. The extent to which Trump agrees with European views or even considers them may be unclear, but just the fact that the meeting did not descend into open hostility needs to be seen as a positive these days.

Several moments during the joint appearance were striking. Macron interrupted Trump to correct his statements on European support for Ukraine. And Trump appeared displeased with Macron’s comment that compensation to the United States for its own support should be subordinated to compensation for the embattled country. The US president seemed especially irked when his visitor noted that Russia should pay for that. The key takeaway is that there are two visions for Ukraine and the future of the European security order, one European and one American. But there is no transatlantic vision.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is following hot on Macron’s heels with his own Trump meeting. The sequencing could help reinforce the European mission, and that in itself has value. But it may not get Europe a seat at the negotiations between Washington and Moscow. In fact, it could confirm the White House’s current approach: Exclude Europeans but shift the burden to them at a moment when they are showing a willingness to assume it.