French President Emmanuel Macron is heading Monday to the United States for a state visit with President Donald Trump, looking to convince him of the need to keep a U.S. presence in Syria even after the defeat of Islamic State terrorists and to give the European Union an exemption on new aluminum and steel tariffs.
He described the U.S. as "a player of last resorts for peace and multilateralism."
Trump has said he wants to pull the estimated 2,000 U.S. troops from Syria as soon as possible, even as a week ago he ordered the U.S. military to join France and Britain in launching missiles targeting Syrian chemical weapons facilities in response to a suspected Syrian gas attack. Trump's planned troop withdrawal comes after the fall of Raqqa, Islamic State's self-declared capital of its religious caliphate in northern Syria.
"I'm going to be very blunt," Macron said in the interview. "If we leave ... will we leave the floor to the Iranian regime and (Syrian President) Bashar al-Assad? They will prepare a new war."
He said the U.S. and France are allied but that "even Russia and Turkey will have a very important role to play to create this new Syria and ensure the Syrian people decide for the future."
法国总统马克龙星期一前往美国进行国事访问,与川普总统会谈。他希望说服川普总统即使在击败伊斯兰国组织后仍然在叙利亚保留美国军队,并豁免欧盟成员国缴纳新实行的钢铝产品关税。
马克龙称美国是能给和平与多边主义的带来希望的最后一个国家。
川普总统表示要尽快把大约2000美军从叙利亚撤出,尽管上星期他命令美国军队与法国和英国一道针对据称叙利亚发动毒气攻击做出反应,联合发动了打击叙利亚化学武器设施的导弹攻击。川普总统计划撤出美国军队前,伊斯兰国组织在叙利亚的所谓哈里发国首都拉卡被攻陷。
马卡龙在接受记者采访时说: "我将坦率地告诉川普总统,如果撤出叙利亚,就会给伊朗政权以及叙利亚的阿萨德政权机会发动新的战争。"
他还表示,美国和法国是盟国,但是即使俄罗斯和土耳其也会在创建新叙利亚的努力中发挥作用,确保叙利亚人民能决定自己的未来。
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