Macron: Charm offensive may soften Trump’s climate stance

President Donald Trump, first lady Melania Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, and and his wife Brigitte Macron, walk from the viewing stand a the conclusion of the Bastille Day parade on the Champs Elysees avenue in Paris, Friday, July 14, 2017. (Photo by CAROLYN KASTER / AP)

PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron says his glamorous Paris charm offensive on Donald Trump might have changed the US president’s mind about climate change.

Macron defended his outreach to Trump, saying in an interview Sunday in the Journal du dimanche newspaper “our countries are friends, so we should be too.”

After a tense, white-knuckle handshake at their first meeting in May, Macron said they gained “better, intimate knowledge of each other” during Trump’s visit last week.

Macron said “Trump listened to me” on their main point of contention – Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement – and “said he would try to find a solution in the coming months.”

The French leader acknowledged Trump’s visit was carefully choreographed to give Americans a “stronger image of France” after deadly Islamic extremist attacks damaged tourism.