Advertisement
This Article is From Jun 10, 2019

Oak Tree Symbolising Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron Friendship Is Dead

It was a symbolic gesture: the tree came from a northern French forest where 2,000 US Marines died during the First World War.

Oak Tree Symbolising Donald Trump, Emmanuel Macron Friendship Is Dead
Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron plant a tree watched by Trump's wife Melania and Macron's wife Brigitte.
Washington:

The photo of Donald Trump and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron planting an oak tree in the garden of the White House symbolized the friendship shown by the two leaders.

But relations between them have since frayed -- over issues ranging from Iran to trade -- and the tree, a diplomatic source said this week, did not survive.

The French president offered the young oak to Trump on the occasion of a state visit to Washington in 2018, and the two shoveled dirt around it under the watchful eyes of their wives -- and cameras from around the world.

It was a symbolic gesture: the tree came from a northern French forest where 2,000 US Marines died during the First World War.

But a few days later, the tree was nowhere to be seen, having disappeared into quarantine.

"It is a quarantine which is mandatory for any living organism imported into the US," Gerard Araud, then the French ambassador to America, wrote on Twitter, adding that it would be replanted later.

But it was never replanted: the tree died during its quarantine, the diplomatic source said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world

Follow us:
Listen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.com