'Their knuckles turned white': Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron's awkward handshake

Donald Trump and France’s newly elected young President Emmanuel Macron, exchanged an awkward power handshake at their first face-to-face meeting in Brussels on Thursday.

“Each president gripped the other’s hand with considerable intensity, their knuckles turning white and their jaws clenching and faces tightening,” according to a report by the White House correspondents’ pool.

Philip Rucker of the Washington Post said: “Trump tried twice to release and Macron held on tight… It was quite a handshake, two alphas.” 

Mr Trump is known for his habit of pumping people’s hands and then yanking them forcefully towards him in a gesture that psychologists believe is intended to demonstrate dominance. Quite literally, Mr Trump likes to have the upper hand.

Mr Macron, who at 39 is France’s youngest leader, may have been well-prepared for his American counterpart’s strong-arm handshake and simply held on tighter than Mr Trump, 70.

When Mr Trump met another youthful leader, Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister had obviously also been well-briefed on the US president’s handshake.

Mr Trudeau, 45, outmanoeuvred Mr Trump by grabbing his right arm with his free left hand, making it impossible for Mr Trump to remind him who was boss by vigorously tugging his hand.

When he met German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr Trump refused to shake hands at all.

The US president, whose election last year shocked pollsters, complimented Mr Macron on becoming France’s youngest president.

As he welcomed Mr Macron to the US embassy, Mr Trump, who had expressed support for Marine Le Pen, his far-Right opponent, complimented the new president on his victory. Mr macron, he said, “ran an incredible campaign and had a tremendous victory. All over the world they’re talking about it.”

Welcoming Mr Macron, he added: “We have a lot to discuss, including terrorism and other things. Congratulations. Great job.”

Mr Macron responded: “I’m also very happy to be with President Trump. We have an extremely large agenda to discuss: the fight against terrorism, the economy, climate and energy.”

The two leaders disagree on several key issues, including climate change, which Mr Trump has bluntly dismissed.

Mr Macron is also reluctant to back Mr Trump’s demand for Nato to join the anti-Isil coalition in Syria and Iraq, but he has pledged to increase France’s defence spending to the Nato minimum requirement of 2 per cent of GDP.

Mr Macron said: “I’m very happy to be able to change many things together.”

The two men sat down to a lunch of mozzarella and tomato salad followed by veal filet and Belgian chocolate mousse.

Their meeting ran longer than the allotted 75 minutes.

Afterwards, Mr Macron tweeted a video of the handshake and said: “Constructive and direct first meeting with President Trump.”