Donald Trump is notorious for his painfully awkward handshakes – among other things – so it came of no surprise to witness his encounter with French president Emmanuel Macron.
The pair met ahead of the Nato summit in Brussels – a city Trump called a “hellhole” in 2016 – and it was Macron who appeared to emerge victorious in the battle of the handshakes.
The awkwardly long greeting saw Macron hold a tight grip on the president’s right hand which turned their knuckles white and left a faint imprint on his skin.
During the meeting of European Nato members, Trump delivered a blunt message that they must spend more on defence to meet the threat from terrorism.
Despite signs of apparent disgruntlement among leaders, he said: “Twenty-three of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they are supposed to be paying for their defence.
“This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States and many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years and not paying in those past years.”
Britain are one of the of five Nato states – alongside the US, Poland, Greece and Estonia – to meet the 2% spending target, and Theresa May urged other members to do the same, according to a senior UK Government source.
In the aftermath of the Manchester bombing, she said the attack had shown the need for the international community “to do more in our fight against terrorism”.
