Donald Trump talks with reporters as US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum looks on at Palm Beach International Airport, West Palm Beach, Florida, January 19, 2026. ANNA MONEYMAKER / AFP
Donald Trump on Monday, January 19 threatened 200% tariffs on French wine and champagne over France’s intentions to decline the US leader’s invitation to join his “board of peace.” The board was originally conceived to oversee the rebuilding of war-torn Gaza, but the charter does not appear to limit its role to the occupied Palestinian territory.
“I’ll put a 200% tariff on his wines and champagnes. And he’ll join. But he doesn’t have to join,” Trump said, referring to French President Emmanuel Macron.
A source close to Macron told Le Monde on Monday that France “does not intend to answer favorably” to the invitation. The board’s charter “goes beyond the sole framework of Gaza,” the source close to the French president said.
Trump confirmed he had invited his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to join his board of peace, after Moscow earlier Monday reported the invite. “Yes, he’s been invited,” Trump told a reporter in Florida who asked if he had asked Putin to join the body.
Read more Subscribers only Trump’s ‘board of peace’ fails to spark enthusiasm among world leaders ‘Unacceptable and ineffective’
“Tariff threats to influence our foreign policy are unacceptable and ineffective,” a source close to Macron told AFP on Tuesday.
Macron sent a “private message” to Trump offering to organize a G7 summit in Paris on Thursday in which Russia could be invited on the sidelines, the French president’s entourage confirmed. Trump posted the message on his Truth Social network. Macron also proposed inviting Ukraine to the meeting, as well as Denmark, to discuss disagreements over Greenland.
The offer came as Europe is weighing countermeasures after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on eight European countries in a bid to pressure the European Union over Greenland.
“My friend, we are totally in line on Syria. We can do great things on Iran. I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland,” Macron said in his message. “I can set up a G7 meeting after Davos in Paris on Thursday afternoon,” Macron wrote, referring to the gathering of global elites in Switzerland where the US president is set to be in attendance.
“I can invite the Ukrainians, the Danish, the Syrians and the Russians in the margins” of the meeting, he added.
Read more Subscribers only Trump isolated after trade escalation with Europe over Greenland
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