TOI correspondent from Washington: In the hallowed halls of the White House and the Elysee Palace, the United States and France have managed to upgrade a centuries-old alliance into something far more contemporary: a full-blown, transatlantic group chat gone wrong.
The latest fracture in this storied alliance—a bond dating back to when the French were helping Americans dodge British tea taxes at the expense of India—didn’t arrive via a wine spat or cheese row. Instead, it was delivered with the flair of a man who treats the global stage like a household argument. During a private lunch on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump suddenly pivoted from the intricacies of Persian Gulf naval blockades to the dynamics of the Macron marriage.
