Countries including the UK, Japan, China and South Korea have said they are still considering their options but without making commitments after the US president, Donald Trump, urged them to send warships to the strait of Hormuz to secure the vital shipping route. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump called on the UK, China, France, Japan, South Korea and other countries to send ships to the waterway, the world’s busiest shipping route, which is being violently blockaded by Iran. In his post, Trump alleged that “many countries,…
Tag: Emmanuel Macron
EU leaders to clash over ‘Buy European’ push at Belgium summit
EU leaders are expected to diverge on whether “Buy European” is an answer to Europe’s waning economic fortunes, at a summit on how to secure the continent’s future in a more volatile global economy. At a moated castle in the east Belgian countryside, the EU’s 27 leaders will gather on Thursday for a brainstorming session on how Europe can regain its economic competitiveness vis-a-vis the US and China, at a time of economic threats and political turbulence. The question of Europe’s declining competitiveness has long troubled the EU, but gained…
The best of the long read in 2025
Victor Pelevin made his name in 90s Russia with scathing satires of authoritarianism. But while his literary peers have faced censorship and fled the country, he still sells millions. Has he become a Kremlin apologist? At 18, Mustafa was told his only way out of prison was to join the regime forces. After 14 years, his past as one of Assad’s fighters could get him killed When fossilised remains were discovered in the Djurab desert in 2001, they were hailed as radically rewriting the history of our species. But not…
The Guardian view on combating Europe’s national populists: protect the less well-off from the winds of change | Editorial
More than a year after the election that handed Donald Trump a decisive comeback victory, the Democratic party has still not released its postmortem analysis. But last week, an influential progressive lobby group published its own. Kamala Harris’s campaign, its authors argued, failed to connect with core constituencies because it did not focus enough on addressing basic economic anxieties. By prioritising the menace to democracy that Maga authoritarianism represented, progressives neglected the bread-and-butter issues that were uppermost in many people’s minds. As the EU braces for a tumultuous period of politics…
The Guardian view on Trump and Europe: more an abusive relationship than an alliance | Editorial
Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz have become adept at scrambling to deal with the latest bad news from Washington. Their meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Downing Street on Monday was so hastily arranged that Mr Macron needed to be back in Paris by late afternoon to meet Croatia’s prime minister, while Mr Merz was due on television for an end-of-year Q&A with the German public. But diplomatic improvisation alone cannot fully answer Donald Trump’s structural threat to European security. The US president and his emissaries are trying…
Five key takeaways from Macron’s speech to UK parliament
Emmanuel Macron, making the state visit by a European head of state to the UK since Brexit, has addressed MPs and peers in the Royal Gallery in parliament. Here are five standout moments from his speech 1. A mild dig at Brexit Nine years on from the referendum, and coded laments about Brexit are more palatable. The French president said that while the UK was no longer in the EU, it “cannot stay on the sidelines because defence and security, competitiveness, democracy – the very core of our identity –…
EU’s proposed 2040 emissions target signals its retreat as leader on climate action
For most of the past 30 years, the EU has led the world on climate action. The bloc had the deepest reductions in greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto protocol; the first climate laws came from EU member states; the first emissions trading scheme, in 2005; and the Paris agreement in 2015. At times when other major countries – the US, Japan, Canada, China and India at various points – have stepped back, the EU has often stepped forward. There would be no Paris accord had the bloc not won…
Europe and Asia should form ‘positive new alliance’, says Macron in Singapore
European and Asian countries should form a “positive new alliance” based on shared principles, security, defence and trade, away from the battling superpowers of the US and China, Emmanuel Macron has said. Addressing the Shangri-La security dialogue in Singapore on Friday, the French president said the division between the US and China was the biggest threat in the world right now, but he also warned of the threat from Russia and North Korea. He said it was crucial that allied nations act together to maintain credibility against aggressors. “We are…
Trump accuses EU of dragging its heels on a tariff deal with the US
Donald Trump said the EU had been dragging its heels “to put it mildly” on sealing a tariff deal with the US, repeating his assessment that his threat of a 50% tariff on imports from the bloc was an “extremely” satisfactory move. He commended the EU for calling to “quickly establish meeting dates” but reignited fears of a trade war with the region by adding criticism of the EU to his statement on his Truth Social platform on Tuesday. “I was extremely satisfied with the 50% tariff allotment on the…
King’s coronation: who’s on the guest list and who isn’t (and why)
There will be no Joe Biden, but more than 100 other heads of state have accepted invitations to the king’s coronation, with the 2,300-strong guest list also including UK parliamentarians, celebrities and a large number of community and charity representatives. The US president, who is unable to attend, will be represented by the first lady, Jill Biden. She will be joined by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, while Germany and Italy will send their ceremonial presidents Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Sergio Mattarella, rather than their heads of government Olaf Scholz and…