WASHINGTON – Donald Trump threatened to hit France with a 200 per cent tariff on champagne and wine on Monday night before leaking a text message from President Emmanuel Macron that said ‘I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland’.
The outburst took place after the college football championship game in Miami when reporters asked the US president about Macron rejecting Trump’s invitation to join his so-called Board of Peace.
Macron had said ‘at this stage’ he was not planning on serving with Trump’s group, which is intended to create the second phase of the Gaza peace plan.
‘‘Well, nobody wants him because he’s going to be out of office very soon,’’ Trump responded when asked about Macron’s rejection.
Trump then escalated his threat of a trade war with Europe.
‘‘What I’ll do is, if they feel hostile, I’ll put a 200 per cent tariff on his wines and champagnes and he’ll join,’’ Trump said before boarding a flight to Washington. ‘‘But he doesn’t have to join.’’
Trump has already suggested imposing France and several other European nations with tariffs for opposing his actions in Greenland.
Macron has pushed for the EU to threaten tariffs on US$107.7 billion worth of goods and potentially even block American access to the market.
Later Monday night, Trump revealed a text message he received from Macron where the French leader explained some of his differences and similarities to Trump on policy.
‘‘My friend, we are totally in line on Syria. We can do great things on Iran,’’ Macron wrote. ‘‘I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland. Let us try to build great things.’’
In the text, Macron promised to assemble a G7 following the World Economic Forum in Davos and asked Trump to have dinner with him in Paris tomorrow before he returns to the US.
Trump continued to post on Truth Social, with a photoshopped picture of himself, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio ‘claiming’ Greenland with the US flag.
He also posted a photo of himself talking to various European leaders, including Macron, last year, as well as a mention that he’d had ‘a very good telephone call’ with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
It’s unclear how many leaders have been asked to join the Board, and the large number of invitations being sent out, including to countries that don’t get along, has raised questions about the Board’s mandate and decision-making processes.
Also unknown is Israel’s potential role on a Board in charge of implementing the ceasefire agreement that directly involves them.
Israel, Russia, Belarus, Slovenia, Thailand and the European Union’s Executive arm were among the latest to receive invitations.
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