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United States President Donald Trump's and Emmanuel Macron’s interactions are a source of endless speculation.
However the French President recently revealed that his relationship with the US leader is “very direct”.
He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that the duo talk “very regularly”.
We have a very good relationship. He is not a classical politician. He was elected by the American people.
I want to work with him and I think we have built a very strong relationship.
We disagree on several topics. I am always extremely direct and frank. He is. Sometimes I manage to convince him, and sometimes I fail.
Despite the portrayal of unity, the French President admitted that he shared the outrage felt across African countries after Trump allegedly referred to them as “s**thole countries”.
For sure.
It’s not a word you can use and if we want precisely to build peace…I do believe we have to respect all the countries.
That’s what we owe them.
The pair’s first handshake back in July of last year was a much – documented affair, with Macron gripping Trump’s hand tightly, and the latter appearing just as macho as he held on for 30 long seconds.
The New York Times presented the duo as figureheads of two different world views:
A camp of nationalist leaders, which includes a handful of Trump followers inside the European Union, and a camp of internationalists, gathering most of Europe’s heavyweights around President Macron and Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel.
And Macron's subtle actions towards the US President bring another dimension to their relationship.
Early last year he tweeted a video of himself during a NATO meeting walking towards Trump, only to swerve at the last second and greet German Chancellor Angela Merkel instead.
In June, he appeared to have mocked the US President again when he tweeted ‘Make Our Planet Great Again’ following news that Trump was pulling America out of the Paris climate deal.
More: Macron made some incredibly offensive comments about Africa in a speech
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