Macron on Trump’s clash with Europe: No leader is forever

French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday delivered a stark message to President Trump, promising to resist “hegemony” and warning that no leader lasts forever.

Asked whether Trump did not care about “being isolated” from other world leaders, Macron responded, “Maybe, but nobody is forever.”

Macron’s statement comes as leaders from the Group of Seven prepare to meet at the G-7 summit in Canada on Friday — a meeting where Trump’s trade policies are expected to take center stage. 

{mosads}“The six countries of the G-7 without the United States, are a bigger market taken together than the American market,” Macron said during a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa. “There will be no world hegemony if we know how to organize ourselves. And we don’t want there to be one.”

Macron added that other nations don’t mind if the U.S. goes its own way.

“Maybe the American president doesn’t care about being isolated today, but we don’t mind being six, if needs be,” Macron said. 

Every nation in the G-7 has been hit by Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum, and each leader has strongly condemned the move. Trudeau responded by calling them and Canada has threatened to levy tariffs on about $13 billion of U.S. products. 

Macron reportedly told Trump that the tariffs amounted to “economic nationalism” and would penalize everyone including the U.S. 

Trump used Section 232 of U.S. trade law to impose the tariffs, which allows the president to take action against imports for national security reasons. The Washington Post reported this week that Trump plans to confront world leaders at the meeting over an economic system he believes is disadvantageous to the U.S.