President Trump again went after President Macron on Twitter Tuesday.
President Trump again slammed French President Emmanuel Macron's suggestion to build a "real European army."
"Emmanuel Macron suggests building its own army to protect Europe against the U.S., China and Russia. But it was Germany in World Wars One & Two - How did that work out for France? They were starting to learn German in Paris before the U.S. came along. Pay for NATO or not!" Trump tweeted on Tuesday.
This follows Trump's tweet on Saturday in which he wrote: "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. Very insulting, but perhaps Europe should first pay its fair share of NATO, which the U.S. subsidizes greatly!"
A Washington Post piece notes: "Trump's interpretation of Macron's remarks is...factually misleading. What Macron said has been largely echoed by European Union leaders for months now, and in fact mimics the same demand Trump has long made: Europe needs to stop relying on the United States for its own defense."
Trump's Saturday tweet came hours before he met with Macron in France.
"It's unfair to have the European security today being assured just by the United States, and we need a much better burden sharing," Macron said during their meeting. "That's why I do believe that we need more European capacities, more European defense, in order to take this part of the burden. When President Trump has to protect or to defend one of the states of the United States, he doesn't ask France or Germany, or another government of Europe to finance it."
