By Louise Rasmussen
PARIS, Jan 21 (Reuters) – France rejected as “fake news” on Wednesday Donald Trump’s assertion that he had pressured President Emmanuel Macron into hiking domestic drug prices after the U.S. leader threatened sweeping tariffs on French imports to the United States.
It was the latest salvo in an escalating war of words between the two NATO allies as Trump’s threat to take control of Greenland and to impose tariffs on any country that stands in his way puts transatlantic relations under unprecedented strain.
“It is being claimed that President @Emmanuel Macron increased the price of medicines,” the French presidency wrote on social media platform X.
“He does not set their prices. They are regulated by the social security system and have, in fact, remained stable. Anyone who has set foot in a French pharmacy knows this.”
The Elysee used a GIF of Trump mouthing the words “fake news” in front of a microphone, with the same words in writing underneath.
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump said in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that he had threatened Macron with tariffs to cajole him into increasing drug prices in France.
‘HERE’S THE STORY, EMMANUEL…’
“I said, ‘Here’s the story, Emmanuel, the answer is, you’re going to do it, you’re going to do it fast. And if you don’t, I’m putting a 25% tariff on everything that you sell into the United States, and a 100% tariff on your wines and champagnes,” Trump said.
“(And Macron said) ‘No, no, Donald, I will do it, I will do it’. It took me on average three minutes a country, saying the same thing, ‘You will do it’,” Trump said.
Trump earlier mocked Macron for the aviator sunglasses he wore during his own speech at Davos on Tuesday. Trump has also threatened to hit French wines and champagnes with 200% tariffs in an apparent effort to persuade him to join the U.S. leader’s Board of Peace initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts.
Macron has taken a harder line than most European Union leaders over Trump’s Greenland threat, urging the bloc to activate its most potent trade tools against Washington and saying Europe would not give in to bullies.
The French government last year set up an account called @frenchresponse to expose false narratives and misinformation. The account has become increasingly active in recent weeks, notably in challenging rhetoric from the Trump administration.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren, John Irish and Louise RasmussenEditing by Ingrid Melander and Gareth Jones)
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