French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that he and U.S. President Donald Trump would meet before the Dec. 4 NATO summit in London.
Macron said in a Twitter post he had held “an excellent telephone discussion” with Trump on Monday night and talked about Syria, Iran, and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization).
“We agreed on many things and will meet before the London NATO summit,” he added.
Excellent phone conversation tonight with @realDonaldTrump : Syria, Iran, NATO. Many convergences were underlined and we’ll meet ahead of the NATO summit in London.https://t.co/cbOYdz9rsV
— Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) November 11, 2019
Macron said members of NATO “should reassess” after Trump pulled U.S. troops out of northeast Syria without warning.
In a recent interview with The Economist, Macron said the lack of commitment from the United States was leading to NATO’s “brain death.”
Those remarks were rejected by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during his visit to Germany on Nov. 7.
“I think NATO remains an important, critical, perhaps historically one of the most critical strategic partnerships in all of recorded history,” Pompeo said.
According to IRIS think tank Vice President Jean Pierre Maulny, Macron’s remark was addressed to European allies, rather than the United States.
“It is simply a message to the European partners: It is in our interest to take our security into account, because we can’t hope that our American ally will back us on everything,” Maulny said.
In an answer to Macron’s remark, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said NATO is and remains a cornerstone of Europe’s security, and must be preserved.
Reuters contributed to this report.
