President Donald Trump has admitted that French President Emmanuel Macron recognized his “weakness” for Versailles and convinced him to attend the Group of Seven summit.
Trump and other world leaders gathered for a three-day international forum last week in Evian-les-Bains, France, where they discussed ongoing conflicts, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the war in Iran.
The president said Macron “did a great job of hosting the G7” in an interview with Axios’ Marc Caputo, released Friday, adding that the French leader had invited him a week before the summit.
“He said, ‘Would you do me a favor? Would you come in to Paris? We’d like to honor you,’” Trump said.
“I view it as honoring the nation. But he said, ‘I’d like to honor you.’ And he had the biggest people in Europe there and beyond,” the president said.
Trump then admitted, “I was sort of not going to do it, but he knew my weakness because I like Versailles, it’s one of the great places.”
After the summit concluded on Wednesday, Trump attended a lavish dinner at the Palace of Versailles to mark America’s 250th birthday, at the site where the 1783 Treaty of Paris, recognizing the U.S. independence, was signed.
“It’s not something they do. I understand. They don’t do that. They don’t do dinners at Versailles. And we had a fantastic dinner,” Trump told Caputo.
During the dinner, Trump unexpectedly signed an interim peace deal with Iran that would end hostilities in the region. The deal opened the Strait of Hormuz and ended the US naval blockade of Iranian ports, while the two countries work toward a permanent agreement.
“This agreement paves the way for lasting peace and allows the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz,” Macron wrote on social media Wednesday. “It is an important step in the right direction for our compatriots that will soon enable a decrease in energy prices.”
The cost of fuel soared as Iran effectively closed the key oil waterway after the US and Israel began launching strikes against the country at the end of February.
The average price of a gallon of regular gas in the US has dropped from more than $4.50 to $3.93, according to the AAA motor club. But it’s still significantly higher than at the start of the war, when a gallon of gas cost an average of $2.98, according to the Associated Press.
During a rambling speech at the G7 summit, Trump tried to justify the costly war, claiming he “got everything” he wanted.
“On Sunday, we reached an agreement with Iran that achieves everything we set out to accomplish, everything and much more, ending the current conflict, reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and preventing Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon, that’s what it was all about,” the president said.
