Trump Admits to Agreeing to Deals He Didn’t Understand in Talks with Macron

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Bente Birkeland
February 25, 2025
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9 minutes read

(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Donald Trump acknowledged making agreements he didn’t fully understand with French President Emmanuel Macron during a past meeting, sharing a humorous story about their discussions in Paris. The former U.S. president met with his French counterpart on Monday to discuss strategies for ending the war in Ukraine.

Macron emphasized that any resolution must include security guarantees for Ukraine. During a joint press conference at the White House, Trump recalled a dinner meeting with Macron at the Eiffel Tower. “I just want to tell you a little story,” Trump began.

“So we were at the Eiffel Tower having dinner with your wonderful wife and with my wonderful wife, and we came out and he started speaking the French deal, and we didn’t have an interpreter, and he was going on and on and on, and I was just nodding, ‘Yes, yes, yes,’ and he really sold me out.

“Because I got back the next day and I read the papers [and] I said, ‘That’s not what we said,'” Trump added, as he and Macron shared a laugh while clasping hands. “He’s a smart customer, I will tell you that. Do you remember? That wasn’t exactly what we agreed to.”

Following Monday’s meeting, a reporter questioned whether Trump still considered Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky a dictator, a term he used the previous week. Trump indicated that his stance remained unchanged.

“I don’t use those words lightly,” Trump said. “I think that we’re going to see how it all works out. Let’s see what happens. I think we have a chance of a really good settlement between various countries, and, you know, you’re talking about Europe and you’re talking about Ukraine as part of that whole situation.

“The other side has a lot of support also, so let’s see how it all works out. It might work out. Look, you can never make up lives, the one thing you can’t – you can make up the money, but you can’t make up the lives. A lot of lives lost, I think probably a lot more lives than people are talking about. It’s been a rough war, but I think we’re close to getting it solved.”

Trump’s comments come amid ongoing international efforts to negotiate an end to the Ukraine conflict, with the former president maintaining his characteristic approach to diplomacy and negotiations.