President Macron hits back at US Secretary of State

French President Emmanuel Macron warned Saturday that the West is “weakening” after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sought to fend off European anxiety about a decline of transatlantic unity.

“There is a weakening of the West,” the French leader told the Munich Security Conference.

“There’s an American policy that started several years ago and not just under this administration that includes a certain kind of withdrawal, of a rethink of its relationship with Europe.”

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had on Friday rejected European pessimism about Washington’s retreat from the global stage, saying the death of the transatlantic bond is “grossly overexaggerated”.

(AFP/NAN)