President Trump calls President Macron a “friend,” but he did not roll out the red carpet for the French president at the White House and instead had him ushered into the West Wing with little pageantry. 

Mr. Macron visited the White House on Monday morning as the two leaders spoke to the G7 Summit on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

However, when the French president arrived at the White House, he was greeted not by the 47th president but by the chief of protocol, Monica Crawley, outside the West Wing, a departure from the traditional protocol for visiting dignitaries. 

Presidents typically greet visiting heads of state at the north portico of the White House, and the decision by Mr. Trump to forgo the diplomatic nicety sparked speculation that it was an intentional snub of the French president.

After the G7 meeting, Mr. Macron briefly left the White House. He returned at 12:30 p.m. when he was greeted outside by Mr. Trump, who met him with a handshake that some observers said resembled more of a game of tug of war as he appeared to firmly grip the foreign leader’s hand and yank it back and forth.

In Mr. Trump’s first term, many press outlets wrote about the supposed “bromance” between the two men, who planted a symbolic friendship tree on the White House grounds. However, their relationship appears to have soured somewhat since then. 

In 2018, Mr. Trump mocked Mr. Macron and France on Twitter. In November of that year, he wrote, “Emmanuel Macron suggests building its own army to protect Europe against the U.S., China and Russia. But it was Germany in World Wars One & Two – How did that work out for France? They were starting to learn German in Paris before the U.S. came along. Pay for NATO or not!”

During the 2024 campaign, he mimicked Mr. Macron’s accent as he regaled his supporters with a conversation he supposedly had about tariffs. 

In an interview with Fox News last week, Mr. Trump called Mr. Macron a “friend” but said he and Prime Minister Starmer “haven’t done anything” to end the war in Ukraine.

Mr. Macron’s visit and the G7 summit come as America and Russia held talks in Saudi Arabia aimed at ending war and as European nations fear that Ukraine will not be included in the negotiations. 

Mr. Macron said last week that he wanted to encourage Mr. Trump not to appear “weak” before President Putin.

“It’s not you, it’s not your trademark, it’s not in your interest. How can you then be credible in the face of China if you’re weak in the face of Putin?” he said during a question-and-answer event with a social media audience. 

He has argued that an end to the war should come with “strong and credible security guarantees for the Ukrainians.”

In a post on Truth Social on Monday, Mr. Trump noted that “President Emmanuel Macron of France joined me in the Oval Office to speak to the G7 summit.” He said the leaders “expressed their goal of seeing the War end.”

The post had no jabs at Mr. Macron. However, it did include a slight against a different leader, “Governor Justin Trudeau of Canada.”

Mr. Starmer is scheduled to visit the White House on Thursday.