French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech to French ambassadors Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026 at the Elysee Palace in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, Pool)
French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday warned that the United States is “breaking free from international rules,” offering some of the strongest criticism yet of Washington’s policies under the second Trump administration.Macron made the remarks in his annual address to French ambassadors at the Élysée Palace in Paris, days after the US captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, and took them to New York City to face narcoterrorism-related charges.Washington’s European allies have not criticised it for the Venezuela operation, restricting themselves instead to condemning Maduro for his dictatorial rule in the Latin American nation. “The United States is an established power, but one that is gradually turning away from some of its allies and breaking free from international rules that it was still promoting recently. We are living in a world of great powers with a real temptation to divide up the world,” Macron told his envoys during his annual address, according to news agency AFP.He warned that in a world of great powers, some countries have a “real temptation to divide up the world.” Macron observed that multilateral institutions such as the United Nations have become “increasingly ineffective,” and said this moment called for a “renewed commitment” to the UN. “Multilateral institutions are functioning less and less effectively. Every day, people wonder whether Greenland is going to be invaded and whether Canada will face the threat of becoming the 51st state. This is the right moment to reinvest fully in the United Nations, as we note its largest shareholder no longer believes in it,” he stated, referring to the United States.The French president urged his diplomats not to be “passive,” saying, “We’re not here to comment. We’re here to act!” On January 3, US special forces captured Maduro and his wife from Venezuela, sparking international criticism that the United States was undermining international law.Since then, Trump — who began his second and final term in the White House last year — has repeated his insistence that he wants to take “control” of Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory. The US leader has refused to rule out using force to seize the strategic Arctic island, prompting shock and anger from Denmark and other longstanding European allies. Denmark has warned that any such attack would spell the end of the NATO alliance.