Trump’s participation in the June G7 summit in Evian was highlighted as a significant moment in the relationship, with the U.S. president showing support for Ukraine and extending his visit to France to join Macron and his wife for dinner at Versailles Palace.
“We have our ups and downs in our relationship with the U.S.,” said a former French official, staying informed on the transatlantic relationship. Macron can challenge America’s behavior at the Economic Forum of Davos but “can also embrace President Trump and invite him to partake in his Iran deal at Versailles.”
The delay in Lechevallier’s approval process will become “an anecdote,” mentioned the former official, who was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive issue. “But it confirms we are not afraid of a confrontation” with Washington, they added.
For a senior figure from Macron’s Renaissance party, the U.S. targeting a senior French diplomat is “staggering.” Lechevallier is currently chief of staff to Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot and was Macron’s classmate at the elite ENA graduate school.
“We’ve been extremely cooperative, even considerate, on Iran … We’ve been polite and diplomatic. And we’re faced with something that is somewhat humiliating,” said the official.
Diplomatic tensions
The French foreign ministry declined to comment on Lechevallier’s stalled approval procedure and has not protested publicly. But Paris has not retracted its criticism of the U.S. human rights record either.
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