Trump meets with French President Emmanuel Macron at the White House

President Trump is meeting Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron, who becomes the first European leader to visit with the president at the White House since Mr. Trump's return to office last month. 

Mr. Trump and Macron, who have a long-standing relationship after both came to office in 2017, will hold a bilateral meeting and news conference Monday afternoon, after participating in a Group of Seven leadership call earlier in the day to mark three years since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

The meeting comes as more than a dozen Western leaders, including European leaders and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, gathered Monday in Kyiv to show their continued support three years into the war with Russia. Meanwhile, the U.S. has reopened relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and sought to negotiate an end to the war, marking a major shift from the Biden administration. Preparations are underway for a meeting between Mr. Trump and Putin, Russia's deputy foreign minister told state media on Saturday. 

Mr. Trump has also escalated a public feud with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in recent days, calling Zelenskyy a "dictator." Mr. Trump has argued that Ukraine should give something to the U.S. in return for the American aid the country has received, pointing to U.S. interest in Ukraine's rare minerals.

Over the weekend, Zelenskyy said he would be willing to step down in exchange for Ukraine's entrance into NATO military alliance. 

In a post on Truth Social after the G7 meeting, Mr. Trump said everyone "expressed their goal of seeing the War end," while claiming that it would never have started had he been in office. The president also said he expressed the importance of a rare minerals deal between the U.S. and Ukraine in the meeting, adding that he hopes the deal will be signed "very soon." He also said he is engaged in "serious discussions" with Putin "concerning the ending of the War, and also major Economic Development transactions which will take place between the United States and Russia."

The war between Russia and Ukraine is expected to dominate the meeting between the U.S. and French presidents on Monday, as Macron and Mr. Trump's views on the conflict appear to diverge. Though Macron has expressed a shared goal of ending the war, he has stressed his support for Ukraine and its interests being represented — along with strengthening European security more broadly amid the worst military conflict on the continent since World War II. 

Mr. Trump is also set to meet with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House later this week.