PARIS – Despite the public friction between Europe and U.S. President Donald Trump regarding Greenland, a more conciliatory tone emerges in private communications.
On Tuesday, Trump shared a text message from French President Emmanuel Macron, a message that Macron’s office verified as authentic. The tone of Macron’s message, opening with “My friend,” contrasts sharply with the overt criticisms leveled by France and other European nations over Trump’s interest in acquiring Greenland from Denmark, a fellow NATO member.
Before addressing the thorny Greenland issue, Macron chose to highlight areas of agreement with Trump. His message began by emphasizing common ground: “We are totally in line on Syria. We can do great things on Iran,” he wrote, engaging in English.
However, Macron quickly pivoted to the contentious topic of Greenland, expressing his confusion with a candid, “I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland,” yet he swiftly returned to a positive note, suggesting, “Let us try to build great things.”
“We are totally in line on Syria. We can do great things on Iran,” the French leader wrote in English.
Then, he added: “I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland,” immediately followed by: “Let us try to build great things.”
That was the only mention that Macron made of the semi-autonomous Danish territory that Trump covets in the two sections of message that Trump published. It wasn’t immediately clear from Trump’s post when he received the message.
Trump breaks with tradition
World leaders’ private messages to each other rarely make it verbatim into the public domain — enabling them to project one face publicly and another to each other.
But Trump — as is his wont across multiple domains — is casting traditions and diplomatic niceties to the wind and, in the process, lifting back the curtain on goings-on that usually aren’t seen.
Trump also published a flattering message from Mark Rutte, secretary general of NATO, which the alliance also confirmed as authentic.
“I am committed to finding a way forward on Greenland,” Rutte wrote. “Can’t wait to see you. Yours, Mark.”
Rutte has declined to speak publicly about Greenland despite growing concern about Trump’s threats to “acquire” the island and what that would mean for the territorial integrity of NATO ally Denmark. Pressed last week about Trump’s designs on Greenland and warnings from Denmark that any U.S. military action might mean the end of NATO, Rutte said: “I can never comment on that. That’s impossible in public.”
Macron’s relationship with Trump
Macron likes to say that he can get Trump on the phone any time he wants. He proved it last September by making a show of calling up the president from a street in New York, to tell Trump that police officers were blocking him to let a VIP motorcade pass.
“Guess what? I’m waiting in the street because everything is frozen for you!” Macron said as cameras filmed the scene.
It’s a safe bet that Macron must know by now — a year into Trump’s second term in office — that there’s always a risk that a private message to Trump could be made public.
Still, the difference between Macron’s public and private personas in the message that Trump published was striking.
Hosting Russia and Ukraine together
Most remarkably, the French leader told Trump in his message that he would be willing to invite representatives from both Ukraine and Russia to a meeting later this week in Paris — an idea that Macron has not voiced publicly.
The Russians could be hosted “in the margins,” Macron suggested, hinting at the potential awkwardness of inviting Moscow representatives while France is also backing Ukraine with military and other support against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
Macron wrote that the meeting could also include “the danish, the syrians” and the G7 nations — which include the United States.
The French president added: “let us have a dinner together in Paris together on thursday before you go back to the us.”
He then signed off simply with “Emmanuel.”
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Lorne Cook in Brussels contributed.
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