Emmanuel Macron is facing something of a crisis at home: his prime minister has resigned and his party is trailing that of his fierce rival Marine Le Pen by up to ten points in the run-up to crunch European elections. But Macron’s troubles don’t stop there: his “friend” Donald Trump has been busy on the campaign trail in the United States, mocking his old ally and imitating the French leader’s accent.
During a rally in Iowa, Trump told the crowd what happened when he threatened to slap tariffs on French wine and Champagne if France imposed duties on US tech giants:
Trump told the crowd: “I said, ‘Emmanuel, how are you?’ He said, ‘fine.’ I said, ‘I heard you’re gonna charge American companies 25 percent to do things in Mexico.’
“I said ‘no, no, but you’re not gonna do it Emmanuel.’ (Macron said) ‘No, Donald, it has already passed.’
“I said, ‘well, you better un-pass it, because if you don’t un-pass it you are going to pay a 100 percent tariff on all wines and Champagnes that are shipped into the United States starting tonight.’
“‘No, no, no, no — you cannot do that Donald!,’ he said.”
With friends like this, who needs enemies?
This article was originally published on The Spectator’s UK website.
