It was a symbolic gift from Emmanuel Macron to Donald Trump at the height of their “bromance” last year: an oak tree ceremoniously planted in the manicured lawns of the White House by both leaders.
Macron, on a state visit to the US at the time, tweeted that the sapling would be “a reminder … of these ties that bind us” and the “tenacity of the friendship” of the two nations. From little acorns, great transatlantic ties would take root and grow, was the message.
Now, just as symbolically with relations strained between the two, the oak tree has reportedly died.
Le Monde reported its demise last week as the two presidents met in Caen for the 75th anniversary of the D-day landings, saying it was a “metaphor for a relationship that isn’t what it was”.
The presidents have deep disagreements on the climate crisis – Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 Paris climate accord – as well as on Iran, on the role of the EU and on trade, to name the most consequent.
The sapling came from Belleau Wood, north-east of Paris, the location of a ferocious but pivotal battle in which 1,811 Americans died in June 1918 during the first world war.
Macron and Trump, wielding gold-coloured spades, shovelled dirt around it, watched by the first ladies Brigitte Macron and Melania Trump and the world’s press during the April 2018 state visit.
Even at the time, the auspices were not good: jokes quickly spread on social media that Macron was trolling Trump over his environmental policies.
Once the cameras had departed, the tree was uprooted and placed into quarantine to avoid the spread of non-native diseases and invasive insects.
Gérard Araud, the then French ambassador to the US, explained the quarantine was “mandatory for any living organism imported into America” and said the tree would be replanted later. Images showed only a yellow patch of grass in the spot on the White House south lawn where the tree had been planted.
By November last year, relations between the two presidents had soured, with Trump tweeting his displeasure over Macron’s comments about nationalism and the need for Europe to develop its own defence force independent of the US.
Now it appears the oak did not survive its time in quarantine. Its death was confirmed by a diplomatic source to Agence France-Presse. Just like the Macron-Trump love-in, it is no more.
