Sitting beside the French president, Mr Trump pointedly declined to call Vladimir Putin a dictator, saying “I don’t use those words lightly.” Mr Macron seemed cautiously upbeat about his visit to the White House.

The French visit — on the third anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine — came as the Trump administration sided with Russia and against Ukraine and Europe at the Unite

The two leaders started their day by participating in a more than two-hour virtual meeting with fellow leaders of the Group of 7 economies.