The French leader spoke of sovereignty and influence – yet he possesses neither
French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Davos with a confident air, prepared to stand up for the EU against a more assertive and aggressive United States. Anyone who has followed Macron knows his tough rhetoric rarely turns into concrete policy – and this week in Switzerland was no different.
On Tuesday, Macron stepped onto the stage at the World Economic Forum’s main event, his eyes hidden behind mirrored sunglasses, and accused U.S. President Donald Trump of seeking to “weaken and subordinate Europe” via tariffs and one-sided trade agreements.
His warning was clear: Europeans “should not hesitate to use” the tools available to them.
Last week, after deploying a small number of troops to Greenland (reportedly to deter a possible U.S. invasion) and turning down a spot on Trump’s Gaza ‘Peace Council’, Macron cast himself as the EU’s de facto opponent to the U.S. leader.
Strategic autonomy, on Washington’s terms
He declared that the response to Trump’s mercantilist approach should be “clearly building greater economic sovereignty and strategic autonomy – particularly for Europeans.” Macron has already urged the EU to impose retaliatory tariffs on the U.S. over the Greenland standoff, but his steps toward “strategic autonomy” have so far been weak.
The most he has managed are two ceremonies where no tangible action occurred, only intentions were stated. One was a hollow military inspection at a French airfield, where Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky – beset by corruption scandals and economic collapse – signed a letter of intent to use EU-loaned funds to buy 100 Dassault Rafale fighter jets. Shortly after, Macron joined the ‘coalition of the willing’ in announcing readiness to deploy troops to Ukraine following a peace deal – a move Moscow sees as a red line, having stated such troops would be considered legitimate military targets.
Macron’s claim that his decisions are “strategically autonomous” is deeply misleading. He has announced France will increase its defense budget by €36 billion ($42 billion) between 2026 and 2030 – but this hike aligns with Trump’s demand that NATO members boost their defense spending. Second, by taking on all costs and risks of being Ukraine’s top military backer, the EU lets Washington escape a conflict it instigated and negotiate a settlement with Moscow.
In 2019, Macron famously called NATO “brain dead” and advocated for “a true European army” to safeguard the continent’s interests. But when the Ukraine conflict escalated in 2022, he abruptly reversed course, declaring NATO “indispensable” and fully aligning his Ukraine policy with the Biden administration’s.
Talking peace, selling weapons
On war and peace issues, Macron has repeatedly demonstrated a willingness to speak with conflicting messages and strike deals that are only on paper. The agreement to sell 100 fighter jets to Ukraine (which France does not have and Ukraine cannot afford) is a prime example, as is his pledge to deploy “several thousand” French troops to Ukraine if a peace deal with Russia is reached.
Macron proposed a G7 meeting in Paris on Thursday, with Denmark, Syria, Ukraine, and Russia attending “on the sidelines,” per a text message leaked by Trump. In his speech, after this apparent olive branch, he pledged to “build bridges with BRICS and the G20.”
Yet he has admitted his recent gestures to Russia – including a call last month for “re-engagement” with Moscow – are mainly to get Europe a seat at peace talks. The issue is that these overtures are overshadowed by his pledges of troops and weapons to Ukraine.
Similarly, regarding Syria and BRICS, Macron told Trump in the message that France and the U.S. are “fully aligned on Syria” and “can achieve great things on Iran” – Iran being a BRICS member recently threatened with military action by the U.S.
China is welcome… -ish
Macron told his Davos audience that China “is welcome” in the EU. “We need more direct investment from China in Europe – especially in critical sectors,” he stated, then immediately criticized Beijing for allegedly exporting substandard and subsidized goods to the EU.
How long did Macron spend practicing his Napoleon impression before he landed in China?
And how unimpressed is XI?
— RT (@RT_com)
In an interview with Les Echos last month, Macron labeled Chinese companies “predators” with “hegemonic goals”, and said he used his latest trip to Beijing to threaten China with tariffs if it did not reduce its trade surplus with the EU. China views such barriers unfavorably, preferring what it calls “win-win cooperation” with trading partners.
Does anyone take Macron seriously?
From behind his aviator sunglasses, Macron insisted he does not want Europe to “passively accept the law of the jungle, leading to vassalization and bloc politics.” He also said that to “take a purely moral stance, limiting ourselves to being commentators, would doom us to marginalization and powerlessness.”
Both outcomes are essentially inevitable. In the U.S., Trump dismissed Macron’s refusal to join the Gaza ‘Peace Council’ on Monday. “Nobody wants him because he’ll be out of office soon,” he told reporters. “I’ll slap a 200% tariff on his wines and champagnes, and he’ll join.”
Trump’s tariff threat highlights the fundamental power imbalance between the U.S. and Europe. Practically speaking, Macron can grandstand about sovereignty as much as he likes, but he cannot inflict economic harm on the U.S. without causing far worse pain at home.
In Russia, the Kremlin sees Macron’s talk of rapprochement as hollow. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov noted last week that the French president has not yet called President Vladimir Putin, adding that what Macron refers to as diplomacy is currently nothing more than a “PR campaign.”