Seconds after Air Force One touched down at Orly Airport outside Paris on Friday, Trump vented on social media about a proposal for more robust European military cooperation floated by his French counterpart days earlier.
"President Macron of France has just suggested that Europe build its own military in order to protect itself from the U.S., China and Russia," Trump wrote. The message appeared before he'd even gotten off his plane. "Very insulting, but perhaps Europe should first pay its fair share of NATO, which the U.S. subsidizes greatly!"
It was an auspicious start to Trump's short visit to Paris, which kicks of Saturday morning with one-on-one talks with Macron.
The pair seemed to gloss over whatever differences they may have on European military cooperation, saying Saturday they were aligned on military burden sharing.
"We're getting along from the standpoint of fairness," Trump said. "He understands the United States can only do so much."
Macron said his "proposals for European defense are consistent" with Trump's views of burden sharing.
Trump hailed his ties with Macron, saying: "We have become very good friends."
"We have much in common," Trump said.
The morning meeting precedes the real reason for Trump's visit: marking the 100th anniversary of the World War I armistice, which will bring leaders from across Europe to the Arc de Triomphe on Sunday for a solemn ceremony.
Trump is also due to mark to centenary with visits to burial grounds for some of the 117,000 American military personnel who died in the war. On Saturday, he willl visit the Aisne-Marne American Cemetery, near where the Battle of Belleau Wood was fought in 1918. He will deliver remarks from Suresnes American Cemetery on Sunday -- Veterans Day in the United States.
Trump and Macron began their relationship as fast friends, extending invitations to each others' capitals for ceremony-filled visits. But differences on trade, climate change and the US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal have soured their ties.
The tweet only underscored Trump's willingness to blow up his global friendships if he believes it better serves the United States or his own agenda. He has taken similarly assertive stances against leaders in the United Kingdom and at NATO hours before sitting for talks.
On Tuesday, Macron called for a "real European army" during a tour of the former Western Front, according to AFP.
"We have to protect ourselves with respect to China, Russia and even the United States of America," Macron said, according to the French press agency.
Macron also suggested that since the start of Trump's presidency, the US has been seen as a less reliable ally.
"When I see President Trump announcing that he's quitting a major disarmament treaty which was formed after the 1980s euro-missile crisis that hit Europe, who is the main victim? Europe and its security," he said.
Macron has been advocating a similar position for months.
Trump's Friday tweet could preview another high-level international meeting in which the US President distances himself from traditional American allies. Unlike the tense G7 summit in June, however, Russian President Vladimir Putin will be present at this weekend's commemoration.
While both Trump and Macron appeared to be off to a warm start following Trump's inauguration, their relationship appears to have soured.
During a call about trade and migration in June, sources familiar with the call told CNN that it didn't end well.
"Just bad. It was terrible," a source told CNN. "Macron thought he would be able to speak his mind, based on the relationship. But Trump can't handle being criticized like that."
And more recently, a senior diplomatic source told CNN that Trump was "ranting and venting on trade" with Macron during their bilateral meeting in September.
There was "some rapport" between the two, "but it's not what it (once) was," the source said.
His meeting with Macron at the Élysée Palace on Saturday morning is the only meeting with another world leader on his schedule, though more informal encounters are possible at the Armistice ceremony and a subsequent lunch on Sunday. Other leaders attending including Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and British Prime Minister Theresa May.
US officials said the civil war in Syria and efforts to counter Iran would sit high on Trump and Macron's agenda. And trade -- one of Trump's signature issues when he visits with foreign leaders -- was also likely to arise.
During Macron's visit to Washington last spring for the first -- and still the only -- formal state visit, Macron lobbied the President to remain in the nuclear accord, including over an intimate dinner of dover sole at George Washington's Mount Vernon estate. But it wasn't enough to keep Trump from announcing within weeks that he was pulling out.
Since then, Macron has issued warnings against nationalism and protectionism, even as Trump fully embraced those sentiments during a dark and angry midterm election campaign.
Both men find themselves politically humbled. Trump's Republican Party lost control of the House of Representatives during the midterm vote, and ongoing vote counts have given an edge to additional Democratic candidates.
Macron, meanwhile, is sinking to new lows in polls, weighed down by unpopular reform efforts and an attitude that some French regard as aloof. Once viewed as the next center of European power as Merkel exits the stage, Macron now is fighting just to regain his standing at home.
One part of Macron's efforts was convening the Paris Peace Forum this week, intended to bring world leaders together in the goal of promoting peace just as the deadly events of 100 years ago are top of mind.
But Trump is skipping the forum, deliver his own address on Sunday afternoon before flying Air Force One back home.
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