The power play at NATO has shifted. Donald Trump doesn’t seem to have the upper hand that U.S. presidents usually enjoy. He even found himself getting schooled a bit by French President Emmanuel Macron. Bloomberg points out:

Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron sparred in front of reporters over Turkey’s future in NATO and other differences, hours after the U.S. president assailed his French counterpart for “very nasty” comments about the military alliance that’s celebrating its 70th anniversary in London.

The exchange was a vivid display of the sour turn in the relationship between the two men, who were once close enough that Trump made Macron the guest of his first state dinner as president.

An especially striking moment came as Trump jokingly asking Macron, “Would you like some nice ISIS fighters?” The French president shot back saying, “Let’s be serious.” 

New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman said, “In what may be a sign of how world leaders, sick of trying to flatter Trump and getting nowhere, will proceed, Macron got in the face of a president averse to direct conflict.”

The New York Times writes that “Macron has replaced Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany as Mr. Trump’s chief antagonist on the Continent… The president who once exchanged a death-grip handshake with Mr. Macron sat by wordlessly while his much-younger counterpart lectured him on the need to fight the Islamic State.”

The two also clashed over NATO itself. The Wall Street Journal states:

In remarks to reporters earlier in the day, Mr. Trump had harsh words for Mr. Macron over his comment last month that NATO was experiencing “brain death” because of a lack of coordination among allies, especially the U.S. Mr. Trump had called the comments about NATO “very disrespectful” and warned: “Nobody needs NATO more than France, and frankly the one that benefits really the least is the United States.”

Seated next to Mr. Trump, Mr. Macron didn’t back down: “I know my statement created some reactions and I do stand by it.”

The riposte put Mr. Trump in the awkward position of defending an alliance he had called obsolete as a candidate.

https://twitter.com/CNBC/status/1201881852291829760

Tensions were already high before the two met for another reason. Just yesterday Trump slapped new tariffs against French wine, cheese and more.