French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday publicly rebuked US President Donald Trump after Trump mocked Macron’s marriage during a private event as he criticized France for declining to join the US-Israeli offensive against Iran. Macron, speaking on an official visit to South Korea, said the remarks “weren’t elegant, and they weren’t up to par,” striking a measured but unmistakable tone of displeasure.
Trump, at a closed-door gathering on Wednesday, accused Macron of failing to come to America’s aid and quipped: “I called up France, Macron, whose wife treats him extremely badly, (he is) still recovering from the right to the jaw.” The remark appeared to reference a 2025 video in which Brigitte Macron seemed to shove the president aboard the French presidential jet — an episode that has repeatedly resurfaced in public debate. The jibe followed an increasingly personal streak in exchanges between the two leaders that once cultivated a friendly public image, particularly during Trump’s first term.
The Macron couple have been sensitive to attacks on their private life. Last year they filed a defamation lawsuit against US podcaster Candace Owens after she advanced baseless claims that Brigitte Macron might be a man — a smear that Paris officials and allies decried as grotesque and misogynistic. The legal action underscored how sharply the couple reacts to what it sees as malicious intrusions into their family life.
The spat comes amid sharper policy disagreements between Paris and Washington over the conduct of the war with Iran. While France has contributed military assets to the region — sending jets and air-defence systems to protect Gulf partners and deploying naval assets off Cyprus — Macron has refused to provide the naval presence the White House sought to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Paris has instead offered protective ships once active hostilities subside, an offer White House officials reportedly derided. France, together with Spain and Italy, has also barred the use of its airbases for US aircraft taking part in the bombing campaign.
French lawmakers reacted quickly to Trump’s comments. Manuel Bompard, a leading figure on the far left, called the remarks “absolutely unacceptable.” Yaël Braun-Pivet, president of the French National Assembly and a centrist, criticized the US president for mocking leaders while global crises play out, saying on France Info that people are “extremely affected” and lives are at stake on the battlefield while “we have a president who is laughing, who is mocking others.”
Relations between Macron and Trump have oscillated between warmth and friction for years. The pair’s early public rapport — punctuated by famously theatrical handshakes in 2017 — has given way to more frequent clashes over tariffs, diplomacy and, now, the war with Iran. Trump has previously shared private messages from Macron and performed impressions of the French leader in public, a pattern that has increasingly blurred the line between policy disagreement and personal mockery.
Macron’s restrained public rebuttal in Seoul signals Paris’s preference for diplomatic retorts over escalation of personal attacks, but the incident is likely to complicate coordination between close European and US allies as they navigate a widening conflict in the Middle East.