Trump's rhetoric at the time sparked a major debate over the future of European security. Macron, who also took office in 2017, began to propose the formation of a "true European army" as an alternative to NATO and famously warned of the "brain death" of the alliance in 2019.

French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting a new meeting on Ukraine in a bid to coordinate a European response to what he called an "existential threat" from Russia after a shock policy shift in Washington.