Macron halted by New York police as Trump motorcade passes; he calls Trump and walks

Emmanuel Macron was briefly halted on a New York street Monday as police blocked roads for Donald Trump’s motorcade, forcing the French president to wait at the curb after leaving the United Nations headquarters. Video shows Macron looking puzzled as officers hold back the vehicles. 'I'm really sorry, Mr President, everything is frozen', a police officer can be heard telling Macron. The French leader then phoned Trump, telling the other leader, 'Guess what, I'm waiting in the street right now because everything is frozen for you'. After several minutes, Macron and his security detail left the vehicle and walked, as roads were opened only for pedestrians.

Footage of the moment went viral on social media, with commentators suggesting the scene was more than a miscue, arguing it signaled who commands attention even when world leaders are off duty. One post read, 'That’s not just a mix-up — that’s a power signal. When world leaders get parked so Trump can pass, it tells you everything about who commands respect in the room'.

The incident arrived amid a sharp downturn in Macron’s domestic standing. A new Ifop poll released yesterday put his approval rating at 17%, the lowest since he took office in 2017, a level many observers described as perilous for advancing reform agendas amid street protests over the economy. In Paris and across the country, nearly one million workers and anti-austerity demonstrators marched against Macron’s budget plans, while clashes between police and protesters in the capital last Thursday left streets strewn with smoke and debris. At the Gare du Nord, protesters set wooden pallets alight as officers struggled to contain the crowd, and masked students leading banners and red flares blocked the entrance to the Lycee Maurice Ravel as part of broader opposition to budget cuts.

The protests came as Macron’s government—led by new prime minister Sébastien Lecornu after the fall of François Bayrou’s administration—faces calls for higher taxes on the wealthy and more spending on public services. The broader political backdrop includes a hung parliament after last year’s snap election, lingering debt pressures, and a debt ratio around 5.8% of GDP, the largest deficit in France since World War II. Macron has framed reforms as essential to financing Olympic ambitions in Paris, but his party has struggled to pass legislation amid street action and economic headwinds.

As the United States and France navigate a fraught bilateral moment, Macron’s curbside moment in New York underscores broader questions about leadership and protocol amid domestic pressure marking one of the bleakest phases of his presidency.