HANOI (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron’s office on Monday played down an incident in which his wife, Brigitte, appeared to push him in the face as the couple arrived in Vietnam at the start of a Southeast Asia tour.
In a video, Brigitte Macron appeared to shove her husband before he descended from the presidential plane late on Sunday, causing him to step back before he recovered and waved to the cameras at the foot of the stairs of the aircraft.
She remained momentarily hidden behind the plane’s fuselage, blocking any view of her body language. The couple then descended the steps together.
An Elysee official played down the moment, denying it showed an argument between the couple, who have been married since 2007: “It was a moment when the president and his wife were relaxing one last time before the start of the trip by having a laugh.”
“It was a moment of closeness,” the official said.
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Macron’s visit to Vietnam, the first by a French president in almost a decade, comes as he aims to boost France’s influence in its former colony.
Vietnam, which has a heavily export-driven economy, has made concessions to the U.S. in trade talks in a bid to avoid 46% tariffs. But Brussels has concerns that Vietnam’s efforts to buy more American goods could come at Europe’s expense.
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U.S. President Donald Trump threatened on Friday to impose 50% tariffs on imports from the European Union, but softened his stance two days later, restoring a July 9 deadline for talks between Washington and Brussels.
(Reporting by Thinh Nguyen and Elizabeth Pineau in Paris. Writing by Makini Brice. Editing by Richard Lough and Mark Potter)
