Trump invited to Versailles dinner as Macron seeks closer ties

2026-06-14

French President Emmanuel Macron will invite US President Donald Trump to a dinner at the Palace of Versailles after the Group of Seven summit ends, in what is seen as an effort to urge him to align with Europe, including on support for Ukraine.

Dinner at Versailles

According to the US government, Trump will attend the dinner at the Palace of Versailles on the 17th. He is expected to travel there after the summit, which runs from June 15 to 17 in Evian in eastern France.

Using pageantry to draw closer

Macron is thought to have chosen the ornate Palace of Versailles as the venue to suit Trump's taste for spectacle. It is an appeal that uses a distinctly French historical setting, but it may still not have won any firm commitment from Trump.

Continuing friction at the G7

Macron, who took office in 2017, the same year as Trump's first term, is the longest-serving leader at the G7. In 2017, he invited the Trumps to Paris for dinner at a restaurant in the Eiffel Tower.

Even so, the differences between Macron, who avoids following the US and values multilateral cooperation, and Trump, who champions America First, are wide. At the 2019 Biarritz summit, which France chaired, the leaders managed only a one-page joint statement.

Still, when Trump won the US presidential election in November 2024, Macron promptly sent his congratulations. At the end of that year, he also invited Trump to the ceremony marking the restoration of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris after fire damage. With Europe, including Ukraine, long relying on the US for security, Macron appears to have seen himself as having a role in keeping Trump close.

Relationship cools after private message is made public

However, previous attempts to win Trump over have fallen short of expectations. The gap between the two has not narrowed over US high-tariff policy, the Palestinian issue, and tensions involving the US and Israel on one side and Iran on the other.

In January, Trump caused a stir by making public a message Macron had sent ahead of the Davos meeting in Switzerland saying, 'Let's have dinner together in Paris'. It is unusual to disclose private correspondence between leaders, and after attending the meeting Trump returned home without stopping in Paris.

In early April, reports said Macron had made an insulting joke about his wife, Brigitte. While visiting Japan and South Korea, Macron said the matter was not worth responding to and implicitly criticized Trump, saying he was saying too much about everything.

For the US, France is an old ally that helped support its independence from Britain. The Statue of Liberty in New York was made by France to commemorate the 100th anniversary of US independence in 1876. Their historical ties are deep, but discord is increasingly evident between the current leaders. That distance is likely to show at the meeting in Evian as well.

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