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Macron Calls Trump After Getting Stuck Behind His Motorcade

The French president is in New York City for the UN General Assembly.

French President Emmanuel Macron phoned Donald Trump on Monday after finding himself stranded in Manhattan traffic as a result of the U.S. president’s motorcade.

In a video now going viral across social media, Macron is seen stepping out of his car near the UN General Assembly, leaning over a barricade to joke with a police officer. The officer apologizes but explains the gridlock, saying: “Everything is closed for the president’s motorcade.”

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“If you don’t see, let me pass,” a trapped Macron shot back while Trump’s convoy—often more than a dozen vehicles strong—snaked across Manhattan.

Rather than wait quietly, Macron phoned the cause of the jam. “Hey, how are you? Guess what, I am waiting in the street because everything is frozen for you, ha!” Macron is heard telling Trump, laughing into his phone.

Video later shows Macron strolling toward the French embassy still on the line with the U.S. president, pausing to take selfies with New Yorkers and even chuckling after a passerby planted a kiss on his head.

The comic interlude came hours after Macron’s high-stakes UN speech formally recognizing a Palestinian state. “Nothing, nothing justifies the continuation of the war in Gaza,” Macron declared, in a direct rebuke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

The recognition has strained ties with Washington. Trump has repeatedly blasted the move as “a reward to Hamas,” and dismissed Macron’s push as theater. “He’s a different kind of a guy. He’s OK, he’s a team player. But what he says doesn’t matter, it’s not going to change anything,” Trump said in July when Macron first announced the plan.

“He’s a good guy and I like him,” Trump added this week after Macron’s recognition of Palestine, “but his statement doesn’t carry any weight.”

Trump will address the UN General Assembly at around 10 a.m. Tuesday, where world leaders have gathered for the 80th anniversary of the international body.

Trump is expected to deliver an aggressive speech decrying “globalist institutions”, which he will claim “have significantly decayed the world order”, a White House spokesperson said in a briefing.

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