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President Donald Trump's President Emmanuel Macron of the European Union President of the United States of America | Ludovic Marin / AFP / Getty Images
President Donald Trump, fresh on a visit to Paris, on Tuesday fired off a string of tweets attacking French President Emmanuel Macron for floating the idea of a self-binding European military and the country's wine tariffs, while accusing Macron of swiping at Trump's nationalism to distract from his own shortcomings.
"Emmanuel Macron suggests building its own army to protect Europe against the U.S., China and Russia," Trump began in his first tweet. "But it was Germany in World Wars One & Two – How did that work out for France? They were starting to learn German in Paris before the U.S. came along. Pay for NATO or not! "
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"MAKE FRANCE GREAT AGAIN!" The U.S. President wrote in a follow-up post on Twitter later Tuesday morning.
Trump's Tuesday morning tweet Macron of sourcing European nations need more robust militaries to protect themselves from the U.S., a mischaracterization of what the French president actually said. Macron, in an interview with Europe 1, suggests that Europe needs to improve its position militarily.
Macron also lamented a U.S. decision to withdraw from a treaty with Russia that prohibits the manufacture of intermediate range nuclear missiles. The "main victim" of that move, Macron said, was "Europe and its security."
"I believe in the project of a sovereign Europe. We will not protect Europe if we do not decide to have a true European army, "he said." We have to have a Europe that can defend itself alone – and without only relying on the United States – in a more sovereign manner . "
"We should protect ourselves when it comes to China, Russia and even the United States of America," the French president also said, "Alluding to the decision to pull out of the missile treaty with Russia.
Held to Macron disputed that the president was insinuating that France would target the U.S. with any proposed European army, even if other European countries have shown no interest in such a force.
Trump has always called for allied to the United States of America for their defense and defenses. Trump has consistently demanded that they increase their defense spending to a higher percentage of their GDP, forcing the issue to last summer 's NATO summit by seeming to threaten the United States.
Macron, in his interview, agreed that Europe should become less dependent on the U.S. for its military.
But after landing in Paris on Friday, Trump took to Twitter Macron's comments "very insulting," adding a new layer of tension to the weekend's ceremonies, but the two leaders discussed the issue during Trump's visit.
"Never easy bringing up the fact that the United States must be treated fairly, which it has not, on both sides of the world." Trump tweeted after he returned to the U.S.
Trump, who owns vineyards in the U.S., also hit Macron on Tuesday for what he said were unfair tariffs on wine. "France makes excellent wine, but so does the U.S.," he wrote, claiming that France has tougher barriers and higher tariffs in place for importing U.S. wine than the U.S. has for importing French wine.
Trump's self-proclaimed nationalism.
Speaking at an event commemorating 100th anniversary of the end of World War I, Macron called nationalism "the exact opposite of patriotism" in a forceful rebuke to an ideology Trump has supported.
On Twitter Tuesday morning, Trump appeared to suggest that Macron's reading of nationalism was incorrect, writing that "there is no country more Nationalist than France, very proud people-and rightfully so!"
He said that Macron was using Trump as a foil.
"The problem is that Emmanuel suffers from a very low rating in France, 26%, and an unemployment rate of almost 10%. He was just trying to get over another subject, "he said.
