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6C Sunday, November 11,2018
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
WORLD
After spat, Trump calls French president good friend
THIBAULT CAMUS I Associated Press
French President Emmanuel Macron, right, and U.S.
President Donald Trump give a thumbs up at the Elysee
Palace in Paris, Saturday, Nov.10.
BY JILL COLVIN AND
DARLENE SUPERVILLE
Associated Press
PARIS — President Don
ald Trump and French Presi
dent Emmanuel Macron
tried to project unity Satur
day after Trump lashed out
at one of America’s strongest
allies in Europe, claiming
Macron insulted the United
States when he pushed the
idea of the continent having
its own defense force.
The American and French
leaders, who have had an
up-and-down relationship,
told reporters they were
good friends before going
behind closed doors for talks
at the Elysee Palace. It was
Trump’s first stop on a week
end trip to Paris where doz
ens of world leaders were
gathering to commemorate
Sunday’s 100th anniversary
of the end of World War I.
Trump also had been
scheduled to visit the Aisne-
Marne American Cemetery
at Belleau Wood on Satur
day, but canceled because of
rainy weather that grounded
the presidential helicop
ter. The president was
criticized for not finding a
way to get to the cemetery,
which is about a two-hour
drive east of Paris, where
Americans killed in World
War I are buried. The White
House sent a delegation that
included chief of staff John
Kelly in his place.
The dustup over European
security, which threatened
to divert attention from the
weekend’s somber remem
brance ceremonies, was just
the latest example of fallout
from Trump’s unpredictable
brand of Twitter-assisted
diplomacy.
His fractious, destabiliz
ing relationship with Europe
has driven a wedge between
the U.S. and some of its old
est allies on issues including
trade, defense spending and
his seeming deference to
their looming neighbor to
the east, Russia’s Vladimir
Putin. It also underscored
the hot-and-cold relationship
that Trump has had with
Macron, who has increas
ingly branded himself as a
bulwark against the rising
tide of Trump-style national
ism across Europe.
The brouhaha began
Friday night, when Trump
unleashed an angry Twit
ter jab at his host just as Air
Force One touched down in
Paris. Trump tweeted that
Macron “has just suggested
that Europe build its own
military in order to protect
itself from the U.S., China
and Russia. Very insulting,
but perhaps Europe should
first pay its fair share of
NATO, which the U.S. subsi
dizes greatly!”
Trump’s tweet was espe
cially wounding to Macron.
Macron’s office said Trump
had misunderstood the
French leaders’ comments,
lumping together two differ
ent ideas. Macron had said
in an interview that Europe
needs to protect itself against
cyber threats and the “inter
ference in our democra
cies” from “China, Russia
and even the United States.”
Later, he made the case that
Europe needs to build up its
own military because it can
no longer depend on the U.S.
for defense.
The two men struck a
more friendly tone as they
opened their meeting at
the grand presidential
residence.
“We want to help Europe
but it has to be fair. Right
now, the burden-sharing has
been largely on the United
States,” Trump said.
Trump has long com
plained about uncompen
sated U.S. defense spending
that benefits allies, and ear
lier this year threatened to
turn his back on NATO if
members didn’t boost their
defense spending. Trump
said Macron “understands
that and he understands the
United States can only do so
much.”
Macron defended his
viewpoint, saying he shares
Trump’s insistence there be
more burden sharing. He
said it’s “unfair to have the
European security today
being assured just by the
United States,” but did not
respond to a question about
why he felt France needed
protection from the U.S.
The episode was the lat
est example of a frequent
Trump pattern: introduc
ing tension before meeting
with a world leader, then
playing nice when they’re
face-to-face.
Before Trump traveled to
Britain earlier this year, he
gave an interview to a British
tabloid in which he insulted
British Prime Minister The
resa May’s approach to the
United Kingdom leaving the
European Union. Trump said
her political nemesis would
make a great prime minister.
Migrant caravan heads north
after departing Mexico City
Central American migrants gather outside a subway station
after leaving a temporary shelter in the Jesus Martinez
stadium, in Mexico City, Friday, Nov. 9.
BY CHRISTOPHER
SHERMAN
Associated Press
MEXICO CITY - Thou
sands of Central American
migrants were back on the
move toward the U.S. border
Saturday, after dedicated
Mexico City metro trains
whisked them to the outskirts
of the capital and drivers
began offering rides north.
At the Line 2 terminus,
migrants began making
their way to a main highway
to resume walking and hitch
hiking with the approval of
Mexican officials.
Near a major toll plaza
about 19 miles north of the
city, Mexico state police
and human rights officials
helped load men, women
and children onto eighteen-
wheelers and asked pass
ing buses and trucks if they
would carry migrants.
Maria Yesenia Perez,
a 41-year-old who left La
Ceiba, Honduras nearly a
month ago with her 8-year-
old daughter, said she was
prepared to wait to gain
entry at the U.S. border.
“I decided to come (with
the caravan) to help my fam
ily,” she said, before she and
her daughter were hoisted
onto a semitrailer.
Perez is now one of
roughly 4,000 migrants who
plan to proceed to the city of
Queretaro — a state capital
124 miles to the northwest —
and then possibly to Guada
lajara, Culiacan, Hermosillo
and eventually Tijuana on
the U.S. border.
Whereas migrants like
her carried tiny knapsacks
with bare essentials in Mexi
co’s tropical south, however,
their belongings swelled
noticeably after a multiday
stop in Mexico City.
Many are now hauling
bundles of blankets and
heavy clothing to protect
against colder temperatures
in the northern part of the
country. Some left the capi
tal with bottles of water and
clear plastic bags of bananas
and oranges for the long
trek. Others were given juice
and ham sandwiches from
volunteers as they set out.
Astrid Aguilar, who was
traveling with two cousins
aged 3 and 4, lined up along
side the highway to await a
chance at hitching a ride.
“You can’t find work
there,” she said of her home
country of Honduras.
The caravan became
a campaign issue in U.S.
midterm elections and U.S.
President Donald Trump
has ordered the deployment
of over 5,000 military troops
to the border to fend off the
migrants. Trump has also
insinuated without proof
that there are criminals or
even terrorists in the group.
Many migrants say they
are fleeing rampant poverty,
gang violence and political
instability primarily in the
Central American countries
of Honduras, Guatemala,
RODRIGO ABD I Associated Press
El Salvador and Nicaragua,
and they have now been on
the road for weeks.
The longest leg of the jour
ney still lay ahead.
On Thursday, the U.N.
rejected a demand by cara
van representatives for
buses to the border, saying
its agencies were “unable to
provide the transportation
demanded by some mem
bers of the caravan.”
Mexico City is over 600
miles from the nearest U.S.
border crossing at McAllen,
Texas, but the area around
the Mexican border cities
of Reynosa, Matamoros and
Nuevo Laredo is rife with
drug gangs and the migrants
consider it too risky.
Migrants are now taking
a still perilous, but safer
and longer route to Tijuana
in Mexico’s far northwest,
across from San Diego.
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