Macron: Trump’s Ukraine stance “not how responsible allies act”

The presidents of France and Germany delivered unusually sharp criticism of US foreign policy under Donald Trump, warning that Washington was “breaking free from international rules” and that the global order risked descending into a “robber’s den”.

In separate remarks, Emmanuel Macron and Frank-Walter Steinmeier cautioned that the post-World War II rules-based system could be nearing collapse, per British media.

Macron, addressing France’s diplomatic corps at the Élysée Palace, said: “The US is an established power, but one that is gradually turning away from some of its allies and breaking free from the international rules that it was until recently promoting.” He added that “multilateral institutions are functioning less and less effectively” and that “we are living in a world of great powers, with a real temptation to divide up the world.”

The French president said France “rejects the new colonialism and new imperialism – but also vassalage and defeatism”, stressing the need for “greater strategic autonomy, less dependence on the US and China”. His comments came as EU leaders struggle to form a coordinated response to Washington’s actions, while balancing the need to uphold international law with maintaining US partnership, particularly on Ukraine.

Although neither Macron nor Steinmeier referred to them directly, both were understood to be reacting to the US raid on Caracas that resulted in the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, as well as Trump’s long-stated ambition to take control of Greenland. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said the bloc was examining how to respond if the US plans regarding Greenland advance. “The messages we hear are extremely concerning,” she warned. “If this is a real threat ... then what would be our response?”

Speaking in Berlin at a symposium marking his 70th birthday, Steinmeier said global democracy faced mounting danger. While describing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a historic rupture, he argued that US conduct under Trump constituted a second major turning point. He warned that there had been a “breakdown of values by our most important partner, the US, which helped build this world order” and added: “It is about preventing the world from turning into a robber’s den, where the most unscrupulous take whatever they want.”

Steinmeier said the erosion of international order was already far advanced, leaving smaller states “completely defenceless” and enabling powerful actors to treat entire regions “as the property of a few great powers”. He argued that Europe must rethink its security policy and that Germany must demonstrate credibility: “We must not be weak,” he said, noting that the country could only play a role “if we are taken seriously, also militarily”.

Macron, in the same address, also underscored the need to safeguard academic freedom and to maintain “a controlled information space, where opinions can be exchanged completely freely, but where choices are not made by the algorithms of a few”. He said the EU must defend both the Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act, which the US has accused of attempting to “coerce” American tech companies into censorship.

By Tamilla Hasanova