The Notre Dame Cathedral provided the luminous backdrop for President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the geopolitical stage Saturday, when French officials put an ornate line under the five-year project to restore the soaring landmark with a reopening ceremony featuring dozens of world leaders.
Trump, who is set to return to the White House in a little over six weeks, arrived in Paris at a pivotal moment for governments in Western Europe. The region, like France itself, is caught between a wavering liberal democratic order and the rising right-wing movements that aim to upend it.
French President Emmanuel Macron, now in his second five-year term, seized on the occasion to hold a private meeting with Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The three eventually stood together for an uneasy-looking photo opportunity. Macron himself is striving to stabilize an unraveling government at home while retaining his influence abroad — most persistently when it comes to the future of Western support for Ukraine against Russia.
Zelensky’s position is more perilous. Trump has insisted he has a plan to bring immediate peace to the region, though allies of Ukraine are concerned the president-elect might push for a ceasefire or peace deal viewed as more favorable to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has signaled little interest in abandoning his war of conquest.
Zelensky gave away little in a social media post after his sit-down with Trump and Macron, describing it as a “good and productive trilateral meeting.”
“We all want this war to end as soon as possible and in a just way,” Zelensky wrote on X, adding that “President Trump is, as always, resolute.”
Macron welcomed Trump to the Élysée Palace ahead of the ceremony with the pair’s now-customary grappling handshake before the two briefly addressed reporters.
“We had a good time together and we had … really great success working together on defense and offense, too,” Trump said of his first term. “And it certainly seems like the world is going a little crazy right now.”
Macron called Trump’s visit “a great honor or French people” and recalled Trump’s response to the Notre Dame fire five years earlier.
“You were at that time president, for the first time, and I remember the solidarity and your immediate action,” Macron said. “So welcome back again. We’re very happy to have you here.”
In pictures: Notre Dame's breathtaking restoration five years after fire
The French president’s success in delivering Trump to Paris earned him some rare acclaim from the French press, which described it as a “diplomatic coup.” Macron, who was the first foreign leader to publicly congratulate Trump on his election last month, successfully put himself in a room with Trump and Zelensky for a closed-door meeting that lasted a little more than 30 minutes. The president-elect and Ukrainian leader last met weeks before the US election in New York for a conversation that Zelensky characterized as “warm, good, constructive.”
The particulars of Trump’s visit to Paris were hashed out over several days, but the president-elect had told his team he was keen to attend as soon as the invitation arrived. He has a long-held fascination with the cathedral and even tweeted out in distress more than five years ago as a fire ravaged its Gothic edifice, which sits on the Île de la Cité, an island within Paris’ Seine River. Its iconic spire and roof were destroyed as television audiences around the globe watched in horror.
Investigators believe the blaze was an accident but have not yet identified the direct cause.
“So horrible to watch the massive fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris,” Trump posted on April 15, 2019, during his first term in the Oval Office. “Perhaps flying water tankers could be used to put it out. Must act quickly!”
His suggestion was ignored by firefighters and the French civil security agency, Sécurité Civile, responded on social media less than two hours later, warning – in English – that “water-bombing aircrafts … could lead to the collapse of the entire structure of the cathedral.”
Trump has long sought the kind of high-society recognition on offer this weekend from Macron and other European leaders anxious over the direction of the incoming administration, though some of his domestic critics — led by late-night comedians — mocked Trump before he left.
“If all goes according to plan, he would like to buy it and turn it into a casino,” Jimmy Kimmel joked earlier this week. Jimmy Fallon quipped that the cathedral is “going to burst right back into flames” when Trump steps inside.
For Macron, though, the occasion was nothing to scoff at.
In the immediate aftermath of the fire, he pledged to rebuild and reopen the gutted cathedral in five years — a deadline he just about made. There is less room for error, and much more at stake, in his efforts to sustain the fragile coalition backing Ukraine.
The US is the single largest provider of military assistance to Ukraine and critical to marshaling Western support for its defense. Trump, however, has cast doubt on the value of US aid to Ukraine and has repeatedly claimed the war would not have started if he had been president.
Macron’s congratulations to the president-elect last month — going out before most US media agencies had even called the race — alluded to his relationship with Trump the first time he was in the White House, once described as a bromance, although it didn’t last.
“Congratulations, President @realDonaldTrump. Ready to work together as we did for four years,” Macron wrote on X last month. “With your convictions and mine. With respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity.”
Later that evening, he and Trump spoke by phone, Macron’s office said.
The French president has made a fresh push to curry favor with the returning president and his allies. CNN has reported that Macron plans to invite Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk, whom the president-elect has tapped for a role in his administration, to Paris for a summit on artificial intelligence in early February. Musk was also on hand for the ceremonies at Notre Dame.
Trump also met with Prince William at the UK ambassador’s residence in Paris following the ceremony. “He’s doing a fantastic job,” Trump said of Prince William, calling the British heir to the throne a “good man.”
First lady Jill Biden also attended the Notre Dame ceremony, wrapping up her last official state trip abroad, while President Joe Biden opted to stay in the US. The first lady did not, however, visit the Élysée Palace or attend any high-profile meetings.
Saturday’s trip came a week after Trump announced his selection of son-in-law Jared Kushner’s father, real estate developer Charles Kushner, to serve as the next US ambassador to France. Charles Kushner was pardoned by Trump in 2020 after pleading guilty in 2004 to 16 counts of tax evasion, one count of retaliating against a federal witness and another count of lying to the Federal Election Commission.
Macron was not the first G7 leader to huddle with Trump since the election. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau flew to Florida and dined with him at Mar-a-Lago on November 29.
Over dinner that night, Trump — during a discussion on his proposed tariffs — joked that Canada avoid any pain by becoming the 51st US state, two sources briefed on the conversation told CNN.
“The president was teasing us,” Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who was seated at the same table, told reporters in Ottawa this week. “It was, of course, on that issue, in no way a serious comment.”
This story and headline have been updated with new reporting.
