Trump visit: Emmanuel Macron says US ‘is never so great as when it fights for universal values’ in pointed D-Day speech
Follow along for our coverage of Trump's visit to France, as it happened
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Donald Trump have toured the beaches of Normandy to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, hours after causing outrage in Ireland with his remarks about the country’s border with Northern Ireland.
“We have a border situation in the United States, and you have one over here,” the US president said during a meeting on Wednesday with Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister.
“But I hear it’s going to work out very well here,” Mr Trump, who is scheduled to return to Ireland after his France visit, continued.
In commenting about the historically contentious Irish border, Mr Trump appeared to be comparing the Brexit debate over Ireland and Northern Ireland with his attempts to curb immigration by building a wall on the US-Mexico border.
His speech came while touring the beaches and will also visit a US military cemetery in the area.
Mr Trump then returned to Ireland, where just the night before his two adult sons — Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump — were seen bar hopping.
The US president is expected to head home later this week, where he will once again be battling with a Congress that is actively investigating his 2016 campaign.
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Emmanuel Macron used his speech at the cemetery to praise the European Union as an example of the "alliances of free people" that the world saw on D-Day.
"We owe all those who fought and the thousands of civilians who lost their lives, more than metals and more than words. Their victory against barbarism would have never been possible without the support of the United States," he said.
"We shall never cease to perpetuate the alliances of free people.
"That is what the United States did when it created the North Atlantic treaty. That is what the leaders of Europe did in becoming the European Union. France wishes to support the promises of Normandy. The lessons of Colleville-sur-mer are clear: liberty and democracy are inseparable."
"Young Americans died here.
"They died for their country, for the freedom of the world.
"French [people] died on the same beaches for the liberation of their country.
"They also fell so that their nation, once this task completed, would rediscover its tradition of liberty."
Mr Macron's comments echoed those delivered by Queen Elizabeth, during a state banquet thrown for Mr Trump at Buckingham Palace on Monday.
Donald Trump has participated in a moment of silence for the men who died during the D-Day invasion in 1944.
The president watched military planes fly overhead as part of the commemoration ceremony and will later have a working lunch with Mr Macron.
The two leaders will spend more than an hour in bilateral talks later today.
Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron watch planes fly over the Normandy American Cemetery.
Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron and Donald and Melania Trump have watched a ceremonial fly over at Omaha Beach.
The group stood watching the fly over from an overlook, as a bugler played "Taps" as an accompaniment.
The presidents also observed a gun salute and surveyed a map of the 1944 invasion.
Some of the fighter jets and planes used in the fly over left trails of red, white and blue smoke in the skies above Omaha Beach.
The presidents, Ms Macron and Ms Trump will now view the Normandy American Cemetery.
Mr Trump's speech at the cemetery focused on the sacrifice of US troops on D-Day, though he did mention each of the Allied nations which contributed the the effort.
Before the ceremony the 72-year-old tweeted a quote from his 2019 State of the Union speech, which struck an "America First" tone.
"They did not know if they would survive the hour," the image in the tweet reads.
"They did not know if they would grow old. But they knew that America had to prevail. Their cause was this Nation, and generations yet unborn."
Previous US presidents have struck a global tone when discussing D-Day.
"The men of Normandy had faith that what they were doing was right, faith that they fought for all humanity, faith that a just God would grant them mercy on this beachhead or on the next," Ronald Reagan said, in his famous "Boys of Pointe Du Hoc" speech.
And in 2004 George W Bush declared that "America would do it again for our friends," when speaking about the 1944 Allied invasion.
Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron photographed watching planes perform a ceremonial fly over above Omaha Beach.
Melania Trump has laid a bouquet of white flowers at the Normandy American Cemetery.
The first lady is paying her respects at the site, alongside her husband and Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron.
The graves have been marked with small US and French flags to mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day.
Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron are travelling separately from Omaha Beach to the nearby town of Caen, where they will hold a bilateral meeting and have a working lunch.
The presidents are expected to discuss the Middle East, security, the fight against terrorism and trade policies.
Their wives will lunch separately before Mr Trump and his wife return to Ireland, where they will stay at the Trump International golf course in Doonbeg, Country Clare.
When Allied troops stormed the beaches at Normandy, France on June 6, 1944 – a bold invasion of Nazi-held territory that helped tip the balance of World War II – they were using a remarkable and entirely untested technology: artificial ports, writes Colin Flint.
To stage what was then the largest seaborne assault in history, the American, British and Canadian armies needed to get at least 150,000 soldiers, military personnel and all their equipment ashore on day one of the invasion.
Reclaiming France’s coastline was just the first challenge. After that, Allied troops planned to fight their way across the fields of France to liberate Paris and, finally, onto Berlin, where they would converge with the Soviet army to defeat Hitler.
Read more here:
Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister, has wiped tears away as he paid tribute to the men who died during the D-Day invasion.
Mr Trudeau was speaking at Juno Beach, where 14,000 Canadian troops landed on 6 June 1944.
He said the men had taken "a gamble the world had never seen before" and said it was the "responsibility of all Canadians to ensure that their story and their sacrifice will never be forgotten."
In a bilingual ceremony, young Canadians people recited readings from D-Day fighters, saying "we are eternally grateful."
Mr Trudeau also lauded the world order which emerged after D-Day, including the United Nations and NATO.
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