France has a long, complicated and often fraught relationship with the United States, a relationship that is arguably more difficult than the one it sustains with its nearer English-speaking neighbour. This, of course, stretches back particularly to the dialogues instigated during the two countries’ founding revolutions and through two world wars. The complexity of this relationship is exemplified by the awkwardness of the relationship between their current presidents. Deep tensions were acutely evident at the first meeting between Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron in front of the world’s press in 2017, crystallized in the symbolic handshake they were expected to share. President Trump, as was his habit in the opening months of his presidency, appeared to try to outmuscle his younger counterpart in a display of swaggering machismo and political dominance. President Macron, however, was not to be intimidated and, likewise, tried to strong-arm the American premier in an uncomfortably physical display of French exceptionalism. The pair were left temporarily joined in a state of anxious tension, neither wishing to be seen to be the first to drop hands and concede to the other.