Trump returns to world stage in Paris with Ukraine war on agenda

Ania Nussbaum, Tara Patel and Margaret Collins, Bloomberg News on Dec 7, 2024

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President-elect Donald Trump was welcomed back to the world stage on Saturday, sitting down with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and French President Emmanuel Macron with a dramatic backdrop: the reopening of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame.

With Trump set to return to the White House in January, the three leaders met at the Elysee Palace in Paris with diplomacy on the war in Ukraine in flux. Officials close to Macron and Zelenskyy said the meeting was positive, without providing details.

“The world is going a little crazy right now and we’ll be talking about that,” Trump told reporters as he arrived for an initial two-way meeting with Macron.

Macron had sought to engineer the talks to initiate a discussion on how to end the war in Ukraine, an official in his office said. Later, the French president hosted guests, including heads of state and global business leaders, at the cathedral that was painstakingly restored after a catastrophic 2019 fire.

For Macron, the day’s events offered a brief fillip as he seeks a new prime minister after his government collapsed this week in a show of force by far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

Almost three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Zelenskyy and his allies are anxiously watching Trump for signs of how he plans approach the conflict. U.S. weapons and financial aid have been a vital crutch for Kyiv, but Trump had promised he would engineer a swift end to the war on the campaign trail.

That’s fueled concerns in Kyiv and other European capitals that the next U.S. administration might roll back support for Ukraine to pressure Zelenskyy to compromise. On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces have been on the back foot for most of the year and Russian gains have been accelerating in recent weeks.

The incoming U.S. president faces a daunting range of geopolitical challenges, including war in the Middle East and long-running tensions with China.

Shortly before arriving at the presidential palace, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform about the conflict in Syria, where rebels opposed to President Bashar Assad have made rapid advances.

A withdrawal of its troops that are helping support Assad might be “the best thing that can happen” to Russia, he said. The U.S., he added, “should have nothing to do with it. This is not our fight.”

The visit to Paris is Trump’s first trip abroad to meet with world leaders since he won back the White House in November and is a coup for Macron, who’s seen his political program decimated by the domestic opposition who forced out his prime minister with a no-confidence vote on Wednesday.

Macron worked hard to engage Trump through his first term, despite Trump’s occasional barbs, inviting the U.S. leader to the Bastille Day ceremony in 2017 and taking him to dinner at the Eiffel Tower. Trump called Macron weak after the “Yellow Vest” protests broke out in 2018 and attacked him for cozying up to China.

On Saturday, Macron deployed all his experience of dealing with Trump, welcoming him with a red-carpet ceremony at the Elysee and making him effectively the guest of honor at the cathedral. Trump was seated in the front row next to Macron and the two men were seen chatting during the service.

Regardless of Macron’s domestic struggles, the meeting was testament to the unique soft power of France and the president’s ability to wield it.

As Trump and Zelenskiy were speaking, an exclusive list of guests were arriving at the cathedral, which has been rebuilt at a cost of 700 million euros ($740 million).

Bernard Arnault, Europe’s richest man, was among the early arrivals. Kering SA Chief Executive Officer Francois-Henri Pinault came with his wife, the actor Salma Hayek. Both men were major donors to the reconstruction effort.

Billionaire John Elkann, who chairs automaker Stellantis SA, was also in attendance as was FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni chuckled as she posed for the cameras with Macron and his wife Brigitte.

Zelenskyy embraced Macron as he arrived and appeared to say “thank you” to the French leader. The Ukrainian was given an ovation by the guests as he entered the nave.

Trump was among the last of the grandees to be greeted by Macron outside the cathedral, though Elon Musk, a close ally of the president-elect, arrived shortly afterward, scurrying across the square in the rain. First lady Jill Biden followed soon before the ceremony started.

After the ceremony at the cathedral, a select group of guests will attend a dinner back at Macron’s presidential palace.