Donald Trump kicks off NATO meetings in London by unloading on Emanuel Macron

President Donald Trump kicked off his diplomatic meetings with NATO members in London by blasting French President Emanuel Macron for his own comments that the alliance was risking suffering ‘brain death.’ 

Macron in an interview said NATO was suffering ‘brain death,’ highlighted a split over Turkey, and said the treaty alliance must remained unified.  

‘You just can’t go around making statements like that against NATO. It’s very disrespectful,’ Trump groused at the start of two days of meeting with world leaders, including Macron. 

‘I heard that President Macron said that NATO was brain dead,’ Trump said, in a long back-and-forth with reporters. ‘I think that is very insulting towards a lot of different forces,’ he added. 

Trump rapped Macron for his words and ripped the French economy while also brandishing U.S. economic power in a growing trade spat with Paris. 

‘It’s a tough statement though when you make a statement like that,’ Trump complained. 

‘Nobody needs NATO more than France. You just look back over the long period of time,’ Trump said. ‘Frankly the one that benefits really the least is the United States.’

‘We benefit the least. We’re helping Europe. Europe unites when they go against a common foe … That may or may not be a foe,’ Trump said, in a presumed reference to Russia. 

Trump said of France: ‘They’ve had a very rough year,’ and brought up the ‘yellow vest’ protests. 

He referenced new tariff escalations being recommended by U.S. trade representative Robert Lighthizer Monday.  They include new tariffs on French champagne, wine, cheese, and other products totaling $2.4 billion.

Trump also teed off on France’s digital services tax which he said is unfair to U.S. tech giants like Facebook, Google, and Twitter.

‘I’m not going to let people take advantage of American companies. Because if anybody’s going to take advantage of American companies, it’s going to be us,’ Trump said.

Trump at first pretended not to know who had made the brain death comment when asked about it by reporters in an extended availability.  

Then he allowed: ‘I heard that President Macron said that NATO was brain dead. I think that is very insulting towards a lot of different forces.’

The president also invoked Turkish president Recep Erdogan, who pushed back earlier against Macron’s comments.   

‘Who said that?’ Trump said when first confronted with the comment. ‘Turkey responded by saying that he was brain dead, which is interesting,’ Trump said. 

Macron made his comments in a lengthy interview with The Economist.

‘What we are currently experiencing is the brain death of NATO,’ he told the magazine. He issued the warning in part by citing increasing uncertainty about the role U.S. would play. He said it was time for Europe to ‘wake up.’ Otherwise, he said, we will ‘no longer be in control of our destiny.’

Trump also firmly defended NATO, even after drawing criticism during his first year in office for failing to unequivocally state his belief in its Article Five mutual defense provisions.

‘NATO serves a great purpose,’ Trump said, lauding his own efforts to cajole allies into spending more on military defense.