Americas, Europe

Paris tells Trump to keep out of French politics

Following Trump tweets on Yellow Vest protests, Foreign Minister Le Drian says we mind our business, you do the same

Can Erözden  | 09.12.2018 - Update : 10.12.2018
Paris tells Trump to keep out of French politics File Photo

By Can Erozden

ANKARA

Paris on Sunday told U.S. President Donald Trump to mind his own business, after Yellow Vest protests rocked the country for yet another weekend.

"I am telling Donald Trump … We don't take part in the American debates, let us live our life of a nation," Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told French TV.

France doesn’t interfere in U.S. domestic politics, and Washington should do the same, he added.

Saturday on Twitter, Trump blamed the weeks of protests on legislation to fight climate change.

"The Paris Agreement isn’t working out so well for Paris. Protests and riots all over France. People do not want to pay large sums of money, much to third world countries (that are questionably run), in order to maybe protect the environment," he wrote.

Last year, the world at large condemned Trump pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accord, an international agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Since Nov. 17, thousands of protesters have been gathering in major French cities including Paris to protest President Emmanuel Macron's controversial fuel tax hikes and the deteriorating economic situation.

The demonstrators, who generally live in rural areas due to high rents in the cities, have called on Macron to cut fuel taxes and ease their economic difficulties.

According to a recent survey, 84 percent of the French people -- mostly from the middle-income group -- support the protests.

Fuel prices in France have risen more than 20 percent this year.

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