Macron on Thursday criticised Washington’s foreign policy under Trump, urging Europe to defend international rules, protect technology regulations, and reinvest in the United Nations amid rising geopolitical tensions
Delivering one of his strongest critiques yet of Washington’s foreign policy under US President Donald Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday warned that the United States was “gradually turning away” from some of its traditional allies and “breaking free from international rules.”
Macron made the remarks during his annual speech to French ambassadors at the Elysee Palace in Paris, as European powers scrambled to coordinate a response to recent US actions in the Western hemisphere, including Washington’s capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and President Trump’s renewed designs on Greenland.
“The United States is an established power, but one that is gradually turning away from some of its allies and breaking free from international rules that it was still promoting recently,” AFP quoted Macron as telling ambassadors at the Elysee Palace.
“We are living in a world of great powers with a real temptation to divide up the world,” he said, rejecting what he described as a “new colonialism and new imperialism”.
While Macron also criticised China for its “increasingly uninhibited commercial aggressiveness” and described Russia as a “destabilising power” engaged in a nearly four-year war in Ukraine with no clear end in sight, his comments on the United States drew the most attention.
However, he stopped short of calling for a rupture with Washington, following the participation of US envoys earlier this week in a key Paris summit aimed at discussing security guarantees to support a potential ceasefire in Ukraine.
‘Here to act’
Macron on Thursday urged his diplomats not to be “spectators of things coming undone”, calling for proactive engagement in global affairs.
“It’s the opposite! We’re not here to comment. We’re here to act!” he said, emphasising the need for active diplomacy at a time of shifting international dynamics.
Macron’s remarks came in the wake of a controversial US special forces operation that captured Maduro and his wife and brought them to New York, an action that has drawn widespread criticism for undermining international law.
He also addressed concerns sparked by Trump’s renewed interest in Greenland — a self-governing Danish territory — which has alarmed longstanding European allies.
Trump has repeatedly refused to rule out the use of force to seize the strategic Arctic island, prompting strong reactions from Denmark and other European nations.
Copenhagen has warned that any attack on Greenland would effectively spell the end of the Nato alliance.
‘Reinvest fully in the UN’
Macron did acknowledge that “multilateral institutions are functioning less and less effectively”.
But the French leader insisted that “global governance” was key at a time when “every day people wonder whether Greenland is going to be invaded” and whether “Canada will face the threat of becoming the 51st state”.
He said it was the right moment to “reinvest fully in the United Nations, as we note its largest shareholder no longer believes in it”.
The White House on Wednesday flagged Washington’s exit from 66 global organisations and treaties – roughly half affiliated with the UN – it identified as “contrary to the interests of the United States”.
Macron said Europe must protect its interests and urged the “consolidation” of European regulation of the technology sector, a source of frequent tensions between Brussels and Washington.
He also stressed the importance of safeguarding academic independence and hailed “the possibility of having a controlled information space where opinions can be exchanged completely freely, but where choices are not made by the algorithms of a few”.
Brussels has adopted a powerful legal arsenal aimed at reining in tech giants – namely through its Digital Markets Act (DMA), which covers competition, and the Digital Services Act (DSA) on content moderation.
Washington has denounced the tech rules as an attempt to “coerce” American social media platforms into censoring viewpoints they oppose.
“The DSA and DMA are two regulations that must be defended,” Macron said.
With inputs from agencies
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