Macron Rejects Trump’s Claims Blaming Migrants for French Unrest, Calls Foreign Leaders’ Remarks “Unacceptable” and “Stupid”

Paris: French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday accused foreign leaders, including figures across the Atlantic, of exploiting France’s tense social climate to advance their own political agendas, after US President Donald Trump linked the country’s recent unrest to immigration.

France has been gripped for more than a week by protests over the soaring cost of living, with some demonstrations escalating into rioting and looting in Paris and other cities. Thousands of people have been arrested and authorities have imposed curfews in some areas. French officials have attributed much of the violence to radical groups operating amid wider protests over education and living costs.

President Trump has pointed to the unrest to argue that migrants, specifically Muslim migrants, are responsible, a claim for which no evidence has been presented. He urged Macron to close France’s borders and take control before it was too late, and told reporters at the Oval Office on Tuesday that Europe needed to change course, warning that both France and Italy faced further instability without tighter border controls.

Responding to reporters, Macron said he saw no visible foreign interference in the events themselves, but argued that there had been foreign manipulation of information in their aftermath. That manipulation, he said, had led many people, including foreign leaders, to make comments he described as both unacceptable and stupid. Asked whether he was referring to Trump, Macron replied, “Among others.”

The French president dismissed as completely false any suggestion that France had been overrun by migrants and Islamists, and pointed to AI-generated images circulating online that showed scenes which never took place in the country. He added that moments of crisis reveal who truly cares about France, and said those disparaging the country at such a time did not wish it well.

Macron also condemned the violence that has emerged from the mass demonstrations.

The exchange marks a further strain in relations between the two leaders, who once enjoyed a warm rapport but have grown increasingly distant, with Trump frequently mocking the French president in public remarks. Trump has also sought to fold the French protests into his economic messaging in the final weeks before the US midterm elections.