Arriving in South Korea on Thursday, Macron made clear his displeasure at Trump’s comments, which appeared briefly in a video on the White House YouTube channel before being removed, The Guardian reported.
“So I am not going to respond to them – they do not merit a response,” Macron told reporters.
There was anger in France after Trump appeared to make fun of Macron and his wife during the lunch on Wednesday, guests at which included faith leaders and government figures in Washington, as he lambasted NATO allies for not joining the war against Iran.
Mimicking a French accent, Trump said Macron’s wife, Brigitte, “treats him extremely badly”. Speaking about approaching France for help on Iran, Trump said: “We didn’t need them, but I asked anyway.”
He added: “I call up France, Macron – whose wife treats him extremely badly. Still recovering from the right to the jaw.”
Trump appeared to be referring to a May 2025 video that appeared to show Brigitte Macron pushing her husband’s face as they prepared to disembark from a plane on an official visit to Vietnam.
The video, shot by an Associated Press camera operator, showed Macron appearing in the doorway of the plane at the start of a visit to Hanoi. His wife’s hand appears to shove him, causing him to step back before recovering and waving. At the time Macron denied any “domestic dispute” with his wife, saying that they were “joking as we often do”.
At the lunch, Trump continued: “And I said, Emmanuel, we’d love to have some help in the Persian Gulf even though we’re setting records on knocking out bad people and knocking out ballistic missiles. We’d love to have some help. If you could, could you please send ships immediately.”