PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron sharply criticised the United States on Thursday, accusing Washington of abandoning long-standing international norms and drifting away from its traditional partners.
In his annual address to French ambassadors at the Élysée Palace, Macron warned that the U.S. was “breaking free from international rules” it once championed and “gradually turning away” from some of its allies — raising concerns about the future of multilateral cooperation and global stability.
Macron’s remarks come amid mounting tensions between Europe and the U.S. over recent U.S. foreign policy actions, including the seizure of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces and controversial comments by President Donald Trump about potentially acquiring Greenland, the autonomous Danish territory.
“Multilateral institutions are functioning less and less effectively,” Macron said, stressing that the world now faces a landscape dominated by great powers tempted to divide it along spheres of influence.
The French president urged Europe to safeguard its own interests and reinforce its regulatory frameworks — notably in technology — as part of a broader effort to protect sovereignty and democratic values in a shifting geopolitical environment.
Macron also reiterated the need to reinvest fully in the United Nations, warning that the largest shareholder — the United States — appeared to have lost faith in the institution’s value.
European capitals have voiced growing alarm over U.S. policy moves, with allies in Denmark and elsewhere pushing back against talk of Greenland and other assertions of unilateral U.S. power.
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