Macron says calls with Trump are like sausages
French leader uses Otto von Bismarck quote, saying 'It's best not to see them being made,' when asked about CNN report on 'terrible' phone call with US leader
French President Emmanuel Macron isn’t disclosing details of his phone call last week with US President Donald Trump, after an unnamed source told CNN television it went badly.
Macron instead repeated the famous line attributed to 19th century German statesman Otto von Bismarck about laws and sausages: “It’s best not to see them being made.”
The French leader told reporters Tuesday he doesn’t like to comment on “how things went, if that’s hot, if that’s cold, if that’s warm, if that’s terrible. We do (things) and we move forward.”
He promised a “frank and direct discussion” with Trump at an upcoming summit in Canada.
The French presidency says Macron told Trump during a call last week that new US tariffs on European, Mexican and Canadian goods are illegal and a “mistake.”
An unidentified source told CNN that “Macron thought he would be able to speak his mind, based on the relationship. But Trump can’t handle being criticized like that.”
The result, the source said, was “Just bad. It was terrible.”