French President Emmanuel Macron's handshake showdown in Brussels on Thursday with President Donald Trump was "not innocent," the French leader calling it a "moment of truth" and logic of an "equality between peers," according to a Journal du Dimanche interview translated by Politico.
"My handshake with him is not innocent, it is not the alpha and the omega of a policy but a moment of truth," Macron told JDD, as translated by Google. "We must show that we will not make small concessions, even symbolic ones, but do not over-mediate either."
Macron has been seeking President Trump's approval on the Paris Agreement, and Saturday's final working session at the G-7 summit failed to reach unanimous agreement.
Macron, attempting to maintain the deal, put Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdoğan together in operating from a position of showing "strength."
"Donald Trump, the Turkish president or the Russian president believe in the logic of the trial of strength, which doesn’t bother me," Macron told JDD. "I don't believe in the diplomacy of public invective, but in my bilateral dialogues, I don't let anything pass, that is how we are respected."
No U.S. policy decision has been made on the Paris accord, but President Trump is reportedly leaning toward leaving the international agreement on climate change.
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