France’s humiliation by America will have lasting effects

THE TIDEG was pleasingly high, the seaweed on the white sands of the Cornish beach carefully combed out of sight. Seven world leaders sauntered back from their seafront photo for talks. As they walked, only one was treated to the American presidential arm, a full across-the-back hold, and for a total of 37 seconds: the French president, Emmanuel Macron. The high art of diplomatic choreography renders such fleeting gestures priceless. Was it not a kind of consecration? Britain’s Boris Johnson may have hosted the 7 meeting in June. But France’s president got the honours.When Joe Biden was elected, France saw a rare chance to establish itself as America’s favourite European interlocutor. Brexit, went the argument, had relegated Britain’s usefulness in its transatlantic ally’s eyes. Germany was about to lose to retirement Angela Merkel, the continent’s de facto leader and Americans’ European of choice. Who better to step in than Mr Macron, an English-speaker who had once been selected as a French-American “young leader”? None other than Barack Obama, Mr Biden’s old boss, had called the French candidate in 2017 to wish him good luck. “Is this Emmanuel?” Mr Obama’s voice boomed through on speakerphone in the campaign office in Paris, urging Mr Macron to keep campaigning hard right to the end.