French ambassador: Trump foreign policy ‘not that different’ so far

France’s ambassador to the United States says that President Trump should be judged on his policies and not his words.

Trump’s policies so far, Ambassador Gérard Araud said on Politico’s “Off Message” podcast, don’t appear to be radically different from his predecessor, at least in terms of foreign policy. 

“What I try to tell Paris and what I try to explain to the French is that, beyond the words, what matters will be the politics,” Araud said. “So what will be the American policy towards Syria, towards Russia, towards North Korea? That’s what matters.”

“And when you are looking at it, as I have said, it’s not that different,” he added. “There is — nothing really critical has really happened.”

{mosads}Araud, however, pointed to climate change as one issue where European leaders diverge drastically from Trump. The U.S. president’s decision last month to withdraw the country from the Paris climate agreement, Araud said, “dismayed” Europe. 

“Obviously, we were dismayed by the American decision to leave — to denounce — the Paris agreement,” he said. “Basically, what matters beyond this politics is the American society, which is actually very committed to fighting climate change.”

As a presidential candidate, Trump campaigned on an “America first” message, vowing to withdraw the U.S. from what he dubs unfair international agreements.

That approach to foreign policy, Araud said, has left the free world without a clear leader.

“This world order, the traditional liberal world order, is more or less undermined, really, or looks injured. Where [is] the United States? And that’s a question which is on the table,” he said.