Trump slips into French accent while recounting blunt phone call with Macron

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Trump breaks out French accent while recounting phone call with Macron

President Donald Trump used a French accent while describing a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron Jan. 16, 2026.

President Donald Trump broke out a French accent during a White House roundtable Friday while recounting a call he had shared with French President Emmanuel Macron regarding lowering drug prices. 

Trump hosted a rural healthcare roundtable Friday at the White House, where he celebrated investments made in rural communities under the "big, beautiful bill," signed in July 2025. Amid his conversation with lawmakers and health officials, Trump recounted a phone call he shared with Macron as he worked to bring parity to U.S. drug prices that were far higher than prices in Europe. 

"I said, ‘Emmanuel,’" Trump recounted. 

"'Yes, Donald, Donald. Thank you so much for calling," he continued, using an accent to indicate Macron was speaking.

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President Donald Trump broke out a French accent while recounting a phone call with French President Macron.  (Yoan Valat/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

"I said, 'You're not going to like this call,'" Trump continued. 

Trump signed an executive order in May establishing a "most-favored-nation" drug pricing policy, directing the U.S. to pay no more than the lowest price charged by other developed countries for the same medications. Europe — including France — would have to pay more for drugs, Trump argued, because their ultra-low government-set prices let pharmaceutical companies shift costs onto Americans.

Trump said he was armed with threats of tariffs in order to force European nations to raise their drug prices as he worked to address drug pricing disparities between the two countries. 

"'You're going to have to get your drug prices up,'" Trump said he told Macron. 

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"No, no, no, no, no, I will not do that,'" Trump said with an accent. 

"I said, 'Emmanuel, we're paying 13 times more than — 13 times, not 13% — 13 times more than you are for this bill.' I rattled off some numbers that are crazy. You know the numbers I'm talking about," the president continued. 

President Donald Trump and NATO leaders join King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, pose for a family photo as they participate in the 2025 NATO summit on June 24, 2025 in The Hague, Netherlands. (Photo by Haiyun Jiang-Pool/Getty Images)

"'Here's the story, Emmanuel. If you don't do it, I'm going to put a 25% tariff on all goods, wine, champagnes and everything else coming into the United States of America.'"

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"He said, ‘Donald, I would love to do this for you. It would be a great honor to do it,’" Trump continued of his conversation with Macron. "And that's where it began. And I went through country after country."

Monica Crowley, White House chief of protocol, left, greets France's President Emmanuel Macron upon arriving to meet with President Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Monday, Aug. 18, 2025, at the South Portico of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) (Jacquelyn Martin/The Associated Press )

Trump previously has used an accent while talking about Macron, and noted Friday that he is a fan of Macron's, calling him a "very nice person."

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"I like him a lot. I hope he's listening, because he doesn't believe that, but I do," Trump said. "He's a nice man." 

Fox News Digital reached out to Élysée Palace for additional comment from Macron Friday afternoon and has yet to receive a reply.