LATIKA M BOURKE: Macron rebukes Trump as UK, Australia and allies meet over Iran Strait of Hormuz crisis

European leaders have turned a page on their attempts to pacify and appease the volatile President in the White House.

As 41 countries and international organisations, including Australia, met online to discuss ways to try and stop Iran from holding “the global economy hostage,” a blunt Emmanuel Macron told Donald Trump to get serious and that world politics was “not a show”.

The French President’s sharp critique followed Mr Trump’s personal attack on Mr Macron’s marriage and threat to withdraw from NATO.

But it is more than just a tit-for-tat. Mr Macron’s willingness to punch back signals the end of Europe’s attempts to appease the volatile US President.

Europe shifts strategy on Trump

This was the strategy adopted last year, as European leaders formed a protective squad around Volodymyr Zelensky following the Ukrainian President’s Oval Office castigation. Its purpose was out of hope that Mr Trump, who campaigned on “peace through strength” and promised to end the war in Ukraine in “one day, 24 hours” if re-elected, would deliver what Joe Biden’s administration could not — a ceasefire.

One by one, they have all endured their own Oval Office humiliation, seated next to Mr Trump while the President holds lengthy Q&A sessions with the media, and emerged mostly unscathed.

They bought time. But that may have expired.

It is not obvious that Mr Trump has strung Europe and Ukraine along and played the geopolitical equivalent of footsie with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose conduct of his illegal war warrants prosecution for war crimes.

The administration and its MAGA base have a deep hostility to the post-war peace projects of NATO and the European Union and have openly stated their ambition to help populist movements on the continent.

Trump allies fuel fractures inside Europe

Next week, Vice President JD Vance will travel to Hungary to help campaign for Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian leader who is pro-Russian and has used his country’s EU membership to block financing for Ukraine, lift sanctions on Russians and is accused of transmitting in almost real-time the contents of EU leaders’ meetings to the Kremlin.

This week, Mr Orbán’s foreign minister Péter Szijjártó confirmed a recording of him talking to Russia’s Sergey Lavrov and agreeing to push to lift sanctions on a targeted Russian was real.

This is the government that Mr Vance will lend the United States’ reputation and backing to next week, as he speaks of Hungary’s “rich” relationship with the Trump White House.

It is a stark contrast to how Mr Trump and Co treat the rest of Europe. This year alone, the President has threatened to invade Greenland, disparaged the lives that allies gave and lost to America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and has reissued his intention to withdraw from NATO, because Europe did not support or contribute to his war against Iran. This is despite successfully demanding that member states belatedly lift their defence spending.

The US President complained about the Europeans at an Easter lunch at the White House on Wednesday and singled out his French counterpart for insult, mocking Mr Macron’s marriage.

“He’s still recovering from the right to the jaw,” Mr Trump said. He was referring to a 2025 video in which Brigitte Macron was seen shoving her husband in the face.

Mr Trump said he had called up Mr Macron to ask for help with Iran.

“And I said, Emmanuel, we’d love to have some help in the 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.”

Mr Trump imitated a French accent as he recounted Mr Macron saying to him: “‘No, no, no, we cannot do that, Donald. We can do that after the war is won,’” he said.

“I said, no no, I don’t need after the war is won, Emmanuel. So I learned about NATO — NATO won’t be there if we ever have the big one, you know what I mean by the big one.”

Mr Macron said the comments about his marriage were ”neither elegant nor up to standard so I am not going to respond to them, they do not merit a response”.

Macron rejects military solution to Hormuz crisis

But he did respond to Mr Trump’s tactics and complaints about NATO, as well as the future of the Iran war, which has caused record-high surges in global energy prices and could tip the world into global recession if the war that the US and Israel started on February 28 continues.

Mr Macron was in South Korea, having already visited Japan to bolster France’s Indo-Pacific relationships.

“This is not a show. We are talking about war and peace and the lives of men and women,” he said.

“When you want to be serious you don’t say every day the opposite of what you said the day before. And maybe you shouldn’t be speaking every day. You should just let things quieten down.”

He said the US and Israel started the war without consulting allies: “They then lament that they are alone in an operation they decided on alone. It’s not our operation,” he said.

“I remind you that six months ago were told that everything had been destroyed and all had been sorted out,” Mr Macron also said.

He shot down the idea of a military coalition resolving Iran’s de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 per cent of the world’s shipping passes, saying it was “unrealistic”.

“It would expose anyone crossing the strait to coastal threats from the (Iranian) Revolutionary Guards, who possess significant resources, as well as ballistic missiles, (and) a host of other risks,” he said.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has also been on the receiving end of Mr Trump’s ire over Iran. The UK initially blocked the US use of joint bases to launch the initial strikes on Tehran and Sir Keir has stated the UK will not be dragged into the US’s war, questioning whether regime change can be effected from the sky.

Mr Trump said Sir Keir was “no Winston Churchill” in retaliation and has repeatedly insulted the British Navy despite saying he wanted their aircraft carriers and help at the start of the war.

UK leads talks with allies on Iran response

The UK’s Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper convened an online call of around 40 countries and organisations, including Gulf states the UAE and Bahrain. The United States did not participate.

The virtual summit did not agree to any military commitments, although military planners will meet next week. It is not clear which countries will attend.

The 41 countries agreed to increase diplomatic pressure, including through the UN, which Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong has previously criticised as ineffectual in containing Iran’s nuclear ambitions and violations of international law.

“Ministers urged Iran to act in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2817, which reaffirmed that the exercise of navigational rights and freedoms by merchant and commercial vessels, in accordance with international law, must be respected, particularly around critical maritime routes,” Senator Wong said in a statement after the meeting.

“The focus of last night’s meeting was diplomatic and civilian initiatives countries could pursue to make the Strait of Hormuz accessible and safe. Ministers agreed on the importance of continued coordination and collective action.

“Australia is not taking offensive action against Iran and we are not deploying troops on the ground in Iran.

“The Australian Government continues to support de-escalation and the resolution of this conflict. The longer this war goes on, the more significant the impact on the global economy will be.”

It is a lacklustre response from the Coalition, to be sure. Mr Trump will likely scorn it. But he may find allies are no longer afraid of his vindictiveness and understand that if the US continues transmitting that it no longer has Europe’s back, they may as well act like it.