Trump to visit France on Bastille Day
WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump will visit France on Bastille Day on July 14 at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron to celebrate the arrival of American troops in France during World War I, the White House said Wednesday.
Macron issued the invitation on Tuesday in a telephone call with Trump, in which they talked about their meeting during the G-20 summit in Germany on July 7 and 8, and also discussed the threat of a new chemical weapons attack by Syria.
"President Trump looks forward to reaffirming America's strong ties of friendship with France, to celebrating this important day with the French people, and to commemorating the 100th anniversary of America's entry into World War I," the White House said in a statement.
France celebrates Bastille Day throughout the country as a national holiday with a military parade making its way down the Champs-Elysees in Paris, a commemoration of the storming of the Bastille, a feudal prison, on July 14, 1789, during the French Revolution.
Trump's visit also would coincide with the one-year anniversary of a terrorist attack by a Tunisian resident of France who drove a cargo truck into crowds celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, killing 86 and injuring 434 people.
_Newsday
