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French politician demands the US return the Statue of Liberty immediately

March 17, 2025 | | Print Article

A French politician peeved with President Donald Trump is demanding the U.S. return the Statue of Liberty to France.

French Socialist MEP Raphaël Glucksmann claimed the statue gifted to the U.S. in 1884 is now not appreciated and, because Trump sided with “tyrants,” the French would be happy to take it back.

“We’re going to say to the Americans who have chosen to side with the tyrants, to the Americans who fired researchers for demanding scientific freedom: Give us back the Statue of Liberty,” Glucksmann told a crowd at a party convention, according to French newspaper Le Monde, as reported by Fox News.

“We gave it to you as a gift, but apparently you despise it. So, it will be just fine here at home,” he told supporters of his center-left party, Place Publique.

“Glucksmann, a staunch supporter of Ukraine in its war against Russia, has panned President Donald Trump for pulling back support for the country in its fight against Moscow’s invasion since February 2022,” Fox News noted. “He also criticized Trump for cutting federal funding to U.S. colleges and research institutions, a move that led to a French government initiative aiming to bring some of them to France.”

“The second thing we’re going to say to the Americans is: if you want to fire your best researchers, if you want to fire all the people who, through their freedom and their sense of innovation, their taste for doubt and research, have made your country the world’s leading power, then we’re going to welcome them,” Glucksmann told the crowd, calling out right-wing members of the French Parliament for being a “fan club” for the U.S. president.

Then-President Grover Cleveland unveiled the Statue of Liberty in New York’s harbor in 1886, the centennial of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. A few years later, to mark 100 years since the French Revolution, the U.S. gifted France with Lady Liberty, a replica that is on display on an island on the Seine River in Paris.

French sculptor Auguste Bartholdi designed the Statue of Liberty which stands 305 feet tall.

The MEP’s ridiculous demand to return the statue set off a wave of backlash on social media.

Frieda Powers
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