Headlines
France's Macron urges calm after Trump and Zelenskiy clash
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on March 1, 2025
Editorial & Advertiser disclosure
Global Banking and Finance Review is an online platform offering news, analysis, and opinion on the latest trends, developments, and innovations in the banking and finance industry worldwide. The platform covers a diverse range of topics, including banking, insurance, investment, wealth management, fintech, and regulatory issues. The website publishes news, press releases, opinion and advertorials on various financial organizations, products and services which are commissioned from various Companies, Organizations, PR agencies, Bloggers etc. These commissioned articles are commercial in nature. This is not to be considered as financial advice and should be considered only for information purposes. It does not reflect the views or opinion of our website and is not to be considered an endorsement or a recommendation. We cannot guarantee the accuracy or applicability of any information provided with respect to your individual or personal circumstances. Please seek Professional advice from a qualified professional before making any financial decisions. We link to various third-party websites, affiliate sales networks, and to our advertising partners websites. When you view or click on certain links available on our articles, our partners may compensate us for displaying the content to you or make a purchase or fill a form. This will not incur any additional charges to you. To make things simpler for you to identity or distinguish advertised or sponsored articles or links, you may consider all articles or links hosted on our site as a commercial article placement. We will not be responsible for any loss you may suffer as a result of any omission or inaccuracy on the website.
PARIS (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday and called for calm in an interview following Friday's clash between the U.S. and Ukrainian leaders at the White House.
The French presidency said Macron had also spoken to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, European Council President Antonio Costa and NATO chief Mark Rutte, on the eve of a meeting of European leaders on Ukraine on Sunday in London.
In an extraordinary Oval Office meeting on Friday, Trump threatened to withdraw support for Ukraine, three years after Russia invaded its smaller neighbour, alarming Europeans who fear a rushed ceasefire would embolden an expansionist Russia.
"I think that beyond the frayed nerves, everybody needs to calm down, show respect and gratitude, so we can move forward concretely, because what's at stake is too important," Macron said in an interview with several Sunday newspapers.
Macron and Starmer had taken the lead in Europe to convince Trump not to rush to a ceasefire and to provide security guarantees to Ukraine, presenting him with a plan to deploy peacekeepers in Ukraine during meetings in Washington this week.
Macron said in the interview that Zelenskiy had told him he was willing to "restore dialogue" with the United States, including on a deal giving U.S. access to revenues from Ukraine's natural resources, but did not say what Trump told him in the call.
"America's manifest destiny is to be alongside Ukrainians, I have no doubts about that," he was quoted as saying by La Tribune Dimanche. "I want the Americans to understand that withdrawing support to Ukraine is not in their interest."
Macron also said that at a planned European Union summit on March 6 he hoped there would be unanimous support for a joint debt plan at the EU level to raise "several hundred billion euros" for European defence.
(Reporting by Michel Rose, Elizabeth Pineau and Dominique Vidalon, Editing by Timothy Heritage)