Macron tells Trump to stop interfering in France's domestic affairs after US president wades in Paris protest debate
'I say this to Donald Trump and the French president says it too: leave our nation be'
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Your support makes all the difference.France’s government has told Donald Trump to stop meddling in the country’s affairs after the US president taunted Emmanuel Macron about violent protests in Paris.
Foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said Mr Trump should “leave our nation be”, after the American leader blamed the unrest on efforts to fight climate change.
“We do not take domestic American politics into account and we want that to be reciprocated,” he told French TV channel LCI in an interview on Sunday.
President Macron had conveyed the same message to Mr Trump, added Mr Le Drian.
His comments came after Mr Trump repeatedly passed waded into debate about the “gilets jaunes” protests over the weekend.
Anti-government demonstrators again took to the streets across France on Saturday in a show of anger at social inequality and Mr Macron’s presidency.
The unrest began last month with protests against proposed fuel tax rises, which have since been abandoned by the government.
“The Paris Agreement isn’t working out so well for Paris,” tweeted Mr Trump, in reference to the climate accord from which the US president has vowed to withdraw his country.
He said: “People do not want to pay large sums of money, much to third world countries (that are questionably run), in order to maybe protect the environment.”
In a later post, the US president added: “Very sad day and night in Paris. Maybe it’s time to end the ridiculous and extremely expensive Paris Agreement and return money back to the people in the form of lower taxes?
“The US was way ahead of the curve on that and the only major country where emissions went down last year!”
Apparently without evidence, he claimed protesters in France had been chanting “we want Trump”.
Responding during the LCI interview, the French foreign minister said bluntly: “I say this to Donald Trump and the French president says it too: leave our nation be.”
Mr Trump has repeatedly waded into French affairs as tensions flared between himself and the French president in recent months.
Last month he taunted France over Mr Macron’s idea for a European army, referencing the world wars in a tweet which claimed “they were starting to learn German in Paris before the US came along”.
Mr Macron is set to address the nation on Monday evening in the wake of protests which his economy minister bemoaned as a financial “catastrophe”.
Paris tourist sites and shops reopened on Sunday as workers cleaned up broken glass following running battles between protesters and police that left at least 71 injured in the French capital and caused widespread damage in cities around the country.
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