While Europe is publicly pushing back against U.S. President over , the tone appears softer in private exchanges.
On Tuesday, Trump shared he had received from French President , which Macron’s office confirmed as authentic.
Beginning with “My friend,” Macron’s tone was more deferential than the criticism that France and some of its European partner nations are regarding Trump’s push to wrest Greenland from NATO ally Denmark.
Before addressing , Macron chose in his message to first discuss other issues where he and Trump seem broadly aligned.
“We are totally in line on Syria. We can do great things on Iran,” the French leader wrote in English.
Then, he added: “I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland,” immediately followed by: “Let us try to build great things.”
That was the only mention Macron made of the semi-autonomous Danish territory in the two sections of the message Trump published. It was not immediately clear from Trump’s post when he received the message.
Trump breaks with tradition
Private messages between world leaders rarely enter the public domain verbatim — allowing them to project one image publicly and another in private.
But Trump — as is his pattern across multiple areas — is casting aside traditions and diplomatic niceties, thereby revealing interactions that typically remain unseen.
This week, to Norway’s prime minister also became public, released by the Norwegian government and confirmed by the White House.
In it, Trump linked his aggressive to last year’s decision not to award him the Nobel Peace Prize.
“Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace,” the message read.
It concluded, “The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland.”
On Tuesday, Trump also published a flattering message from Mark Rutte, secretary general of NATO, which the alliance also confirmed as genuine.
“I am committed to finding a way forward on Greenland,” Rutte wrote. “Can’t wait to see you. Yours, Mark.”
Rutte has declined to speak publicly about Greenland despite growing concern about Trump’s threats to “acquire” the island and what that would mean for the territorial integrity of NATO ally Denmark. When pressed last week about Trump’s designs on Greenland and warnings from Denmark that any U.S. military action might mean the end of NATO, Rutte said: “I can never comment on that. That’s impossible in public.”
Macron’s relationship with Trump
Macron likes to claim he can reach Trump by phone at any time. He demonstrated this last September by calling the president from a street in New York to tell Trump that police officers were blocking him to let a VIP motorcade pass.
“What? I’m waiting in the street because everything is frozen for you!” Macron said as cameras filmed the scene.
It is a safe assumption that Macron must now know — a year into — that there is always a risk a private message to Trump could be made public.
Macron said Tuesday that he had “no particular reaction” to the message’s publication when a journalist asked him about it.
“I take responsibility for everything I do. It is my habit to be consistent between what I say publicly and what I do in private. That’s all.”
Still, the contrast between Macron’s public and private personas was notable.
Hosting Russia and Ukraine together
Most notably, the French leader told Trump in his message that he would be willing to invite representatives from both Ukraine and Russia to a meeting later this week in Paris — an idea Macron has not mentioned publicly.
The Russians could be hosted “in the margins,” Macron suggested, hinting at the potential awkwardness of inviting Moscow representatives while France is also supporting Ukraine with military and other aid against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
Macron wrote that the meeting could also include “the danish, the syrians” and the G7 nations — which include the United States.
The French president added: “let us have a dinner together in Paris together on thursday before you go back to the us.”
He then signed off simply with “Emmanuel.”
Making nice only goes so far
Despite Macron’s persistent efforts, across both of Trump’s terms, to avoid upsetting him, any reciprocal benefits have been limited at best.
Trump bristled on Monday, , when told that Macron has no plans to join Trump’s new that will oversee of the Gaza peace plan, despite receiving an invitation.
“Well, nobody wants him because he’s going to be out of office very soon,” Trump told reporters, even though the French leader has more than a year left in office before the end of his second and final term in 2027.
“I’ll put a 200% tariff on his wines and champagnes and he’ll join,” Trump said.
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Lorne Cook in Brussels, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, and Kostya Manenkov in Davos contributed.