Trump and Macron Cement Unlikely Friendship in Bastille Day Visit<br />By MAGGIE HABERMANJULY 14, 2017<br />JULY 14, 2017<br />PARIS — With a warm clasping of hands, President Trump and President Emmanuel Macron of France cemented an unlikely<br />but budding relationship on Friday, capped by a Bastille Day military parade in Paris meant to emphasize the alliance between the United States and its oldest ally.<br />Despite some wariness in the initial contacts between Mr. Trump, 71,<br />and Mr. Macron — who at 39 is the same age as Mr. Trump’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. — the American leader’s two-day visit to France ended on a high note.<br />The parade also celebrated the 100th anniversary of America’s entry into World War I. Mr. Trump sat between his wife<br />and Mr. Macron on the presidential viewing stand, an overhang shading them from the baking sun.<br />But Mr. Macron and his wife, Brigitte, beguiled Mr. Trump<br />and his wife, Melania, with red-carpet treatment and catered to Mr. Trump’s well-known penchant for military displays of power, which were woven into the Bastille Day parade they attended before flying home.<br />Mr. Trump and Mr. Macron have sharply differing views on a range of issues, most notably<br />the Paris accord, the climate change pact that Mr. Trump renounced six weeks ago.<br />Mr. Trump talked excitedly to Mr. Macron as a variety of World War I-era tanks rolled to a stop near the viewing stand.<br />Around 10 a.m. Friday, Mr. Trump and Mr. Macron arrived for the Bastille Day festivities in their motorcades.
