Macron Calls on US to Do More on World Stage, Dodges Question on Trump Reelection

TEHRAN (defapress)- French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday expressed the need for the US to play a different role on the world stage than it has under the administration of President Donald Trump.

News ID: 81885

Date: 29 August 2020 - 15:27

But in response to a question about whether he would like to see Trump re-elected, he swerved, POLITICO reported.

"It’s not my role to say whether I wish the reelection or not of a foreign leader, my role is to make sure we work well together," Macron stated at a Q&A session with reporters in Paris.

"What is very important in the international context is that the US can play their role as a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, of a fully engaged member in multilateral issues. We need the United Nations' engagement in resolving conflicts and to have a US that is a partner of collective security of a sovereign Europe … it shouldn’t be too dependent on any political event," Macron noted, in a clear reference to the differences between the US and some EU member states over the past four years.

Most recently, France, Germany and the UK withheld support for a US resolution at the Security Council aiming to indefinitely extend a UN arms embargo on Iran after the Trump administration unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear deal in 2018.

The Trump administration has also withdrawn the US from a series of UN agencies including UNESCO, and most recently the World Health Organization (WHO), in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The US has also not renewed or replaced arms control agreements it had with Russia, which are important for European security.
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