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Trump in Paris for Notre Dame reopening, diplomacy / Photo: © AFP
Trump in Paris for Notre Dame reopening, diplomacy
US president-elect Donald Trump on Saturday landed in Paris on his first international trip since his election win, preparing for a day of intense diplomacy before attending the reopening ceremony for the Notre Dame cathedral restored after the 2019 fire.
President Emmanuel Macron scored a major coup in Trump's acceptance of the invitation to attend the ceremony in the evening, where he will be joined by scores of other leaders.
The event provides a unique chance for leaders to brush shoulders with Trump before the tycoon turned politician takes office in January.
Trump arrived at Orly airport in the south of Paris aboard a private plane just before 0700 GMT, said an airport source, asking not to be named.
He is to hold talks at the Elysee Palace with Macron at 1500 GMT.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky, who is due to meet Macron an hour later at 1600 GMT, may also meet Trump, a Ukrainian official said on Friday.
Such a meeting would be of huge importance given the fears in Kyiv that Trump, who once boasted he could end Russia's war on Ukraine in 24 hours, may urge concessions to Moscow.
The Notre Dame opening ceremony will itself start at 1800 GMT. Trump is expected to leave on Sunday and it is not clear if he will return to the church for morning mass that day.
Macron invited both Trump and outgoing President Joe Biden. Trump accepted the invite, while the current administration will be represented by First Lady Jill Biden.
Trump posted on his Truth Social page that Macron had "done a wonderful job ensuring that Notre Dame has been restored to its full level of glory, and even more so. It will be a very special day for all!"
For Macron, the invitation to Trump marks a sense of deja vu as he tries to woo an impulsive US president with whom he has had sharp disagreements.
Macron welcomed Trump in 2017, after his first election, with the glamour of dinner at the Eiffel Tower and the pomp of watching a Bastille Day military parade down the Champs-Elysees -- which Trump later said he wanted to emulate in Washington.
Trump's relationship with Macron gradually soured, albeit not as quickly as it did with a number of other leaders, such as then German chancellor Angela Merkel.
In 2019, Trump said the French leader was "very, very nasty" and lashed out at his economic record after Macron criticized the US level of commitment to the NATO alliance.
When Trump won again a month ago, Macron was one of the first world leaders to speak to Trump by telephone to congratulate him.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has decided not to make the trip, after her prsence was initially announced by Brussels.
She is in the throes of a major spat with Macron after going to Montevideo on Friday to announce the conclusion of a free trade agreement between the EU and four South American countries, which is opposed by France and some other European countries.
L. Rodrigues--JDB
