French President Accuses US of Turning Away from Allies

French President Emmanuel Macron has accused the United States of gradually distancing itself from its allies and stepping away from international norms it once championed.

Macron made the remarks on Thursday during his annual address to French ambassadors at the Élysée Palace, as European countries seek a coordinated response to Washington’s increasingly assertive foreign policy. 

His comments come against heightened global tensions following the US capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and Donald Trump’s stated interest in Greenland.

The French leader said the United States, while still an established power, was increasingly disengaging from some of its traditional partners and loosening its commitment to international rules it had previously promoted. He also warned that multilateral institutions were becoming less effective, arguing that the world was moving toward an era dominated by major powers tempted to divide global influence among themselves.

“The United States is an established power, but one that is gradually turning away from some of its allies and breaking free from international rules that it was still promoting recently. 

“Multilateral institutions are functioning less and less effectively. We are living in a world of great powers with a real temptation to divide up the world.”

Macron urged Europe to act decisively to protect its strategic interests, calling for stronger and more unified regulation of the technology sector. 

He stressed the need to safeguard academic independence and preserve an information space where opinions can be freely exchanged without being shaped by the algorithms of a small number of powerful platforms.

He defended the European Union’s Digital Markets Act and Digital Services Act, describing them as essential tools that must be upheld. The regulations are designed to curb the influence of major technology firms by strengthening competition rules and enforcing content moderation standards.

Washington has criticised the EU laws, arguing that they amount to coercion of American technology companies. Macron, however, maintained that the regulations were necessary to protect democratic values and ensure fair digital governance.