President Donald Trump on Monday threatened to impose huge new tariffs on French wines and champagne after French President Emmanuel Macron rejected his offer to join the Board of Peace.
A source close to the French president told Le Monde on Monday that France “does not intend to answer favorably” to Trump’s invitation for Macron to join the Board of Peace.
The Board of Peace is a U.S.-led intergovernmental body, chaired by Trump, that was established primarily to oversee the post-conflict administration, reconstruction, demilitarization, and economic recovery of the Gaza Strip following the end of the Gaza War.
According to Le Monde, Macron doesn’t like the Board of Peace because “the charter does not appear to limit its role to the occupied Palestinian territory.”
President Trump didn’t take kindly to Macron’s complaints and rejection:
🇺🇸🇫🇷TRUMP: IF FRANCE WON’T JOIN BOARD OF PEACE, I’LL PUT A 200% TARIFF ON THEIR WINE
“Well, nobody wants him because he’s going to be out of office very soon.
That’s all right.
What I’ll do is if they feel hostile, I’ll put a 200% tariff on his wines and champagnes and he’ll… pic.twitter.com/07wQZoeoNs
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) January 20, 2026
“Well, nobody wants him because he’s going to be out of office very soon,” the president said when asked late Monday about Macron’s refusal to join the board.
“That’s all right. What I’ll do is if they feel hostile, I’ll put a 200 percent tariff on his wines and champagnes, and he’ll join,” Trump added before boarding a flight from Miami to the White House.
Later Monday evening and going into Tuesday morning, Trump leaked a text message from Macron to his Truth Social account.
In the text, the French president praised Trump for his work in Syria and Iran but expressed confusion over his U.S. counterpart’s focus on acquiring Greenland.
“My friend, We are totally in line on Syria,” Macron wrote. “We can do great things on Iran. I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland.”
“Let us try to build great things: 1) i can set up a g7 meeting after Davos in Paris on thursday afternoon. I can invite the ukrainians, the danish, the syrians and the russians in the margins 2) let us have a dinner together in Paris together on thursday before you go back to the us. Emmanuel,” he added.
French President Macron, in what appears to have been a private text to President Trump, posted by Trump on his Truth Social account:
“We are totally in line on Syria. We can do great things on Iran. I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland.” pic.twitter.com/DJtsxYPjVc
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) January 20, 2026
Macron isn’t the only foreign leader to be invited by Trump to join the board.
“The White House also sent out invitations to the countries of Egypt, India, Turkey, Canada, and the United Kingdom,” according to the Daily Mail. “Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced that his country will join Trump’s peace board but will not pay the $1 billion fee for the permanent seat.”
As of Monday, only three countries had accepted the president’s offer: Hungary, Kazakhstan, and Vietnam.
Trump on Monday also leaked a text message from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in which Rutte vowed to use his power and position at the ongoing World Economic Forum to promote Trump’s vision for Gaza, Ukraine, and even Greenland.
Trump posts a private text message from NATO chief Mark Rutte.
“I will use my media engagements in Davos to highlight your work…” pic.twitter.com/LTglb26iTu
— Clash Report (@clashreport) January 20, 2026
All this comes a day or so after word broke that Trump had sent a text to Norway’s prime minister suggesting that his (Trump’s) recent push to acquire Greenland stems from Norway’s decision not to award him (Trump) the Nobel Peace Prize.
“Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America,” the president wrote in the leaked text.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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