Macron, Starmer to Meet Trump Amid Alarm in EU

French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will travel to Washington this week amid alarm in Europe over US President Donald Trump's hardening stance towards Ukraine and overtures to Moscow on the three-year conflict.

- 

LONDON/PARIS -

The leaders of Europe's two nuclear powers, who will be travelling separately, are expected to try to convince Mr Trump not to rush to a ceasefire deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin at any cost, keep Europe involved and discuss military guarantees to Ukraine.

Mr Macron, who is trying to capitalise on a relationship with Mr Trump built during their first presidential terms, has said agreeing to a bad deal that would amount to a capitulation of Ukraine would signal weakness to the US' foes, including China and Iran.

"I will tell him: Deep down, you cannot be weak in the face of President (Putin). It's not you, it's not what you're made of and it's not in your interests," he said in an hour-long question and answer session on social media ahead of his Feb 24 visit to the White House.

The visits come amid a rift between Mr Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whom the US leader called a "dictator", that has alarmed Kyiv's European allies, who are already reeling from a more aggressive US posture on trade, diplomacy and even domestic European politics.

Professor Philip Golub of international relations at the American University of Paris said Mr Trump's rapid-fire moves in his first weeks in office, as well as the rhetoric from other US officials, had been a major shock for the Europeans.