World3 min(s) read
Published 12:34 02 Apr 2026 GMT
Trump brutally mocks Macron during speech after wife appeared to slap his face during tense moment
Donald Trump has taken aim at the French President Emmanuel Macron and claimed that his wife treats him ‘badly’.
Trump made the controversial comments in a speech last night and even found time to mock his counterpart’s accent.
Donald Trump recalled a famous viral Macron family incident
Trump was recalling an incident in which Macron’s wife Brigitte was seen to hit the French premier after the pair had alighted an aircraft.
That incident, in May 2025, showed Brigitte shoving her husband in the face, although that was later brushed off as a ‘domestic dispute’ and the pair ‘joking as we often do’.
In this latest jibe - one of many that Trump has been firing at his NATO allies - the US President said that Macron’s wife treats him ‘extremely badly’.
"I call up France, Macron – whose wife treats him extremely badly. Still recovering from the right to the jaw," Trump said.
He continued: “And I said, 'Emmanuel, we'd love to have some help in the Gulf even though we're setting records on knocking out bad people and knocking out ballistic missiles.
“We'd love to have some help. If you could, could you please send ships immediately?’”
Then, mocking the French accent, Trump added: "'No no no, we cannot do that, Donald. We can do that after the war is won,'
"I said, 'No no, I don't need after the war is won Emmanuel,'" Trump said.
"So I learned about NATO – NATO won't be there if we ever have the big one, you know what I mean by the big one.”
Reaction to Trump’s comments in France
As you might imagine, the comments have gone down like a lead balloon in France.
Yaël Braun-Pivet, president of France's lower house of parliament, said: "Honestly, it's not up to par,
"We are currently discussing the future of the world.
“Right now in Iran, this is having consequences for the lives of millions of people, people are dying on the battlefield, and we have a president who is laughing, who is mocking others.”
Manuel Bompard, Macron’s political opponent, also defended the President.
"You are aware of the extent of my disagreements with the president, but for Donald Trump to speak to him like that and to speak of his wife in such a manner – I find that absolutely unacceptable," he said.
Macron himself described Trump’s comments as ‘neither elegant nor up to standard’.
This is all part of Donald Trump’s ongoing confrontation with NATO, after he himself threatened to withdraw the US from the 32-nation bloc.
His Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also floated the idea, suggesting the US is going to ‘re-examine’ its relationship with the treaty organization once the war with Iran is finished.