Trump has horrified European allies with his attacks on Volodymyr Zelenskyy and what critics say is a soft take on Vladimir Putin. Enter Emmanuel Macron.
Three years of the war in Ukraine
Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago. With President Donald Trump in office now, is it any closer to ending?
- Trump called French President Macron “a very special man.”
- Macron sought to warn Trump of appearing weak by rushing into a peace agrement with Putin.
- European allies have offered peacekeepers to guarantee Ukraine’s security after a peace agreement – but they want a U.S. backstop.
- “Come to the table with more, if you want a bigger seat at the table,” National Security Advisor Michael Waltz told his European counterparts.
WASHINGTON – Call it the art of the deal.
A gentle pat on the leg. An affectionate grab of the arm. French President Emmanuel Macron managed to do what no other European leader could so far: charm President Donald Trump.
“President Macron is a very special man in my book,” Trump said Monday in the Oval Office.
Macron has taken a leading role in Europe’s push to keep Trump from legitimizing Vladimir Putin and rewarding the Russian invasion with a hurried deal to end the Ukraine war.
“We are personal friends, because we work very well together,” Macron said at the White House. “The U.S. and France always stand on the same side − the right side, I would say, of history.”
U.S. allies are shocked at the rapid pace of Trump’s talks with Putin’s government and suggestions from the White House that the aggressor nation could be allowed to retain territory it seized unlawfully, in order to conclude the three-year war.
Trump’s assault on Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy, who he lambasted last week as a “dictator without elections” and blamed for the Russian invasion, has stunned America’s military partners. He is pushing Zelenskyy to sign a critical minerals agreement that would allow the U.S. to recoup money it has spent − and far more − on Ukraine’s defense.
European leaders are scrambling, with Macron summoning his counterparts to two separate emergency sessions and calling Trump twice. He then appealed to the president face-to-face on Monday, on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
Their discussion served as a “turning point” for Europe’s role in peace talks, Macron said.
European countries are ready to put forward security guarantees for a postwar Ukraine − with a U.S. backstop. “And now there’s a clear American message that the U.S. as an ally is ready to provide that solidarity for that approach, that is a turning point in my view,” Macron added.
“We want peace swiftly, but we don’t want an agreement that is weak,” Macron said at a news conference. “President Putin violated the peace,” he added.
European leaders have walked a careful line between publicly defending Zelenskyy and rebuking Trump in a way that provokes him to dig in.
“I think that we should not spend time on commenting on the comments. I think that we have to mobilize ourselves and do our job,” a European official told USA TODAY. “We still believe in the transatlantic alliance.”
European leaders are descending on Washington to plead with Trump and his advisers not to be duped by Putin.
Leaders of the G7, a group of seven leading industrialized nations and the European Union, also convened a call Monday about Ukraine, which Trump and Macron joined from the Oval Office.
Polish President Andrzej Duda met with Trump on Saturday at the Conservative Political Action Conference outside Washington. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will visit the White House on Thursday.
Starmer has offered to deploy UK troops to Ukraine as postwar peacekeepers if they are backstopped by the U.S. The proposal would reportedly involve around 30,000 European troops.
“Other countries are ready to join in this effort. Solidarity and support from the U.S. will be crucial to this,” Macron said Monday. “But we do need this American backup, because this is part of the credibility of the security guarantees,” he said later.
European officials were hopeful Macron could get through to Trump, who he hosted at France’s Élysée Palace in December. He is the first European leader to visit the White House since the Republican’s return to office.
Trump told Fox News last week that he considered Macron “a friend of mine” and thinks Starmer is a “very nice guy.” But, he argued, “they didn’t do anything” to bring the war to an end.
Tearing into Zelenskyy, Trump said, “He’s been in the meetings for three years and nothing got done, so I don’t think he’s very important to be at meetings, to be honest with you.” He added, “He’s been there for three years; he makes it very hard to make deals.”
On the other hand, Putin is ready to negotiate, Trump said − horrifying allies abroad and many at home. “And he doesn’t have to make a deal, because if he wanted, he’d get the whole country eventually.”
Europe drifting – or pushed – from the US
After Germany’s elections on Sunday, center-right leader Friedrich Merz, who is poised to be the country’s next chancellor, offered a dire assessment.
Merz said he’s been urging EU leaders to “strengthen Europe as quickly as possible, so that we achieve independence from the U.S.,” Deutsche Welle reported.
“I never thought that I would ever need to say something like that, on television, but after the latest statements made by Donald Trump last week, it is clear, that the Americans − at any case these Americans, this administration − mostly don’t care about the fate of Europe one way or another,” Merz said.
A European Council on Foreign Relations survey found that 50% of EU residents across 11 countries now consider the U.S. a “necessary partner,” rather than an “ally,” with just 21% saying the latter.
Repeating Obama’s mistakes on Putin?
Cristian Terhes, a far-right Member of the European Parliament from Romania, told USA TODAY Trump is repeating the mistakes of the Obama administration, which “tried to reset ties with Russia and was played by Putin.”
“Trump is correct in asking Europe to invest more in its defense, and that will happen,” Terhes said. “However, what shocked many European leaders is the way he is going about it, by undermining NATO, questioning U.S. commitments, and treating long-standing allies with hostility while praising and caving to Putin.”
“From ‘America First,’ Trump is turning it into ‘America Alone,’ which, for the United States, is a recipe for failure,” he added.
Russia annexed part of Ukraine in 2014 and launched a full-scale invasion in 2022.
Donald Trump says Ukraine ‘should have never started’ war
President Donald Trump suggested Ukraine “should have never started” the war in Ukraine.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told U.S. allies it’s “unrealistic” for Ukraine to expect a return to its pre-2014 borders. NATO membership is also not “a realistic outcome” of the negotiations, Hegseth said of the security guarantee Ukraine has long sought.
NATO allies promised Ukraine last June that eventual membership was irreversible, as they tried to fortify Ukraine before the U.S. election in case Trump won.
Trump, in an angry tirade against Zelenskyy last week, suggested Zelenskyy could have prevented Putin’s invasion. “You should have never started it,” Trump declared. “You could have made a deal.”
European leaders were caught off guard, having assumed figures like national security adviser Michael Waltz and Secretary of State Marco Rubio would advance a “smart version” of Trump’s vision, former U.S. Ambassador to Poland Daniel Fried said.
“It’s not been a good couple of days,” said Fried, who was in Brussels and Poland last week. “That could change, but they’re appalled, and I don’t blame them.”
Poland’s Duda said he warned Zelenskyy that Ukraine would not see peace without U.S. support. He said he suggested Zelenskyy “remain committed to the course of calm and constructive cooperation” with Trump.
Officials including European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen made the long journey to Kyiv on Monday to show support for Ukraine and Zelenskyy, who offered Trump a resignation-for-NATO deal on Sunday.
“If you need me to leave this chair, I am ready to do that, and I also can exchange it for NATO membership for Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said.
Peacekeeping troops a possibility
European leaders are offering peacekeeper forces to guarantee Ukraine’s security without NATO membership. But the Trump administration hasn’t explicitly agreed to provide backup to a European force.
“I think that Europeans will step up, and definitely we will, but the U.S. is an indispensable alliance, because of their defense capabilities,” the European official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said.
The U.S. could provide logistical support and defend European peacekeepers using existing air bases in Poland, former U.S. officials say. This would allow Washington to keep boots off the ground in Ukraine while playing the supporting role sought by allies.
Retired U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Mark Montgomery, a former director for transnational threats at the National Security Council, said the only way for Europe to force Trump’s hand is by detailing the type of support it’s willing to provide.
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“If Europe is providing a security force to enforce any kind of cessation of hostilities on the Ukrainian side, they’re going to have to be included in the negotiations,” Montgomery said. “So they’ll have to put a little skin in the game to get their seat at the table.”
Macron stressed that European peacekeepers wouldn’t take part in combat and would be deployed as part of “an assurance force.”
The question is whether, and in what form, the U.S. will assist, he said.
Trump emerged from talks with Macron in apparent agreement.
“We will see you again soon,” he told Macron. “We’ll be speaking often. We’ll get this thing worked out.”
National security adviser Michael Waltz said last week that the Trump administration would “certainly welcome more European assistance.”
“As I told my counterparts, ‘Come to the table with more, if you want a bigger seat at the table,'” he said.
Fried, the former ambassador, said, “Trump’s plan is getting traction in Brussels. It is clear to me that the Europeans are taking this seriously, both EU and NATO.”
Trump needs to get out of his own way, figure out what he wants the Europeans to do − and then push them to do it, Fried added, “If you’re asking Europeans to put troops on the ground, you’d better have their back, and they need confidence that you know what you’re doing.”
