Bastille Day 2017: Donald Trump Joins Emmanuel Macron for Paris Parade
President Donald Trump has joined French President Emmanuel Macron the Bastille Day parade in Paris, where US and French troops marched together down the Champs-Élysées.
Donald Trump was guest of honor as the annual parade this time marked 100 years since the Americans entered World War One.
President Emmanuel Macron said “nothing will ever separate” France and the US, and President Trump’s presence showed “a friendship across the ages”.
Earlier Emmanuel Macron stood in a military jeep and inspected the troops.
He is now in Nice, attending a commemoration for last year’s Bastille Day terrorist attack, in which a Tunisian-born man drove a huge lorry into a celebrating crowd on the beachfront, killing 86 people.
Image source Wikimedia
At the start of the ceremony people were honored for their heroism on the night.
They included Franck Terrier, the man who drove his scooter alongside the speeding truck and jumped on to its cab, punching the driver through the window in a desperate attempt to force him to stop.
Franck Terrier was given a lengthy ovation and awarded the Légion d’honneur – France’s highest order of merit.
France remains under a state of emergency, following a spate of terror attacks by jihadists.
In Paris earlier, President Donald Trump and the First Lady warmly embraced their French counterparts – Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte.
Donald Trump called Bastille Day “a wonderful national celebration”.
“Our two nations are forever joined together by the spirit of revolution and the fight for freedom,” he said.
Earlier, he suggested he could review his position on climate change, after Emmanuel Macron argued in defense of the 2015 Paris accord.
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“Something could happen with respect to the Paris accord,” President Trump said.
“We’ll see what happens.”
Last month President Trump had said the US would withdraw from the Paris accord, citing moves to negotiate a new “fair” deal that would not disadvantage US businesses.
Yesterday, First Lady Melania Trump toured Notre Dame cathedral with Brigitte Macron, and prayed before a statue of the Virgin Mary.