>> thank you very much, everybody. >> and that cabinet meeting held earlier today. now just waiting for a news conference to begin with the two ed leers. it was scheduled to begin about 15, 20 minutes ago, but we hear it's been postponed until at least 12:30 eastern time. also tonight, president trump and the first lady will be hosting their first official state dinner for their guests of honor, and we'll have live coverage of that at 6:30 p.m. eastern time. while we wait for the joint press conference with the two leaders to begin, we'll take a look at our conversation with o reporter who's covering the french president's visit. this is from today's "washington journal." >> joining us on the phone, tom

sankton of "vanity fair," a writer for that publication who just put together a long piece taking a look at the french president and his influences. good morning. >> good morning. >> thanks for joining us. could you describe or at least give a sense of president macron and his relationship with president trump as it currently stands. >> sure. emanuel macron is a very young man. he just turned 40. he's never been involved in electoral politics before. my contact with him led me to consider him a very, very intelligent, articulate, determined, focused leader. he's actually trying to put through a set of very ambitious reforms at home without provoking a certain amount of protest. his relationship with president trump is very interesting. i don't know that you could call

it a friendship, but it's an excellent personal rapport. this goes back, you can trace it back to macron's invitation last july to president trump to attend the military parade on bastille day. president trump was flattered and pleased by this attention from a european leader, particularly at a time when most european leaders were kind of looking at trump with, i would say, suspicious eyes. macron realized if he would reach out to trump, he could establish a personal rapport because trump really puts a lot of store on personal relationships. i think macron has succeeded in winning the confidence and certain sort of friendship with president trump. now, they don't agree on the-- there are many issues on which they don't agree, but i think that personal rapport is allowing macron at least an opening to try to convince president trump to change his

positions on a certain number of issues, particularly the iran nuclear deal. and also the steel and aluminum tariffs, which macron would like to see an exemption for the european countries. >> you wrote in the piece about how president macron studies, particularly studies the handshake of president trump. i imagine that would apply to this visit, coming here. give some context. >> well, you know, when president trump was first elected and met various foreign leaders, it was quite clear he had this trim, this intimidating handshake where he would shake and kind of pump and jerk the hand. macron was made aware of this by his ambassador in washington, so he studied videos of trump's handshake. he actually -- macron actually

practiced his handshake on aides, which consisted of a vice-like group and a refusal to let his arm be jerked by president trump. when they met in brussels last may for the first time, the videos of this handshake went viral because the young french president actually held his own, and it actually succeeded in making trump break off the handshake first. then probably a painful handshake at that because it looked like a white knuckler. >> how did the people of france perceive this visit here in the united states with our president? >> well, you know, president macron is now facing a lot of criticism and protest in strikes. his popularity ratings are not much higher than trump's right now. now, i think there is a sense

that the french president has a certain amount of influence on president trump and that he may be able to win certain concessions. it would be to the advantage of the french, particularly -- >> mr. sankton, stay on the phone with us. we're going to watch a little bit of the proceedings as they take place. we'll be right back. ♪ >> events at the white house has president trump and many staff, including the vice president, visiting with the french president, emanuel macron. tom sankton of "vanity fair" who wrote a piece about the french

president joining us. before we got interrupted, you were talking about the similarities politically, mr. sankton, about mr. trump and the french president. go ahead and continue that thought. >> yes, well, both of them were elected on their first attempts. macron had no previous electoral experience. trump, of course, did not. so they're both outsiders. in a very interesting way, they are both products of the same phenomenon, which is a kind of a populist rejection of the status quo and of traditional parties and their respective countries. now, in the u.s., that rejection gave us president trump, who's politically very different from president macron. in france, you had this rejection of the traditional parties, which gave the leadership to a young man who had never run for office before. then briefly finance minister. he was trained. he has a degree in philosophy. he's got a degree in public

administration, his first job as an investment banker. so they're both outsiders from the private sector. macron stressed this in our interview. they both try very hard to carry out the campaign promises that they were elected on. of course, the promises themselves are very different. but i think there's a sense that trump told macron in their first meeting, we're both outsiders. >> proceedings continuing on at the white house. tom sankton of "vanity fair" joining us on the phone. do you get a sense about the president's willingness to press issues, particularly as he'll meet with our president over issues like the iran nuclear deal, which you mentioned, and other topics as well. >> yes. i would say the iran nuclear deal is foremost on his agenda. the reason being is there's a

may 12th deadline for president trump to decide, announce whether or not he's pulling out of the deal. president macron of france thinks this would be a very, very bad move. he's also joined in that opinion by his fellow europeans, including angela merkel, who will be in washington on friday and will certainly press the same point. other points he's probably going to push concern the steel and aluminum tariffs that president trump has threatened to impose on importers. it's very important from the european point of view to obtain exemptions from those tariffs if they are, in fact, imposed. as president macron said in a tv interview a couple days ago, you know, you don't launch a trade war against your allies. it's very important that the u.s. and france remain close

allies that they've been for the last 250 years. i think that's going to be important. and of course climate. the climate accord that president trump has pulled out of. that's a very important issue for macron. i think he will try to encourage the president in some way to return to the fold on the issue of climate control. >> because you interviewed him, do you sense he him as a forcef negotiator? what's his style? >> both, he's forceful, he's determined, and he has a lot of charm. but i think the charm is certainly not devoid of substance. one of the remarkable things about him is his determination to carry through his programs and his policies. i mentioned earlier that his reform policies have triggered a certain amount, in fact a large amount of resistance at home. unlike previous french governments who have tended to back down in the face of popular

unrest and protest, i think his intention is to persist with these reforms and really carry them through. it's a very big challenge because the french unions, particularly in the transport area and the aviation, they can really paralyze the country if they decide to carry out kind of a hard strike, which seems to be what's happening now. he's facing a big challenge at home, but i think he's a determined leader. he's a pragmatist. he's very, very results oriented. i think he's going to follow through with these reforms. >> give us a sense of president macron the man. he is, as you write about, very steeped in the worlds of culture. if you quicklyin could, tell us how that brings influence to his presidency.

>> well, it's very important to him. he called it an obsession. he's very well educated. as i mentioned earlier, he has an advanced degree in philosophy. one of the things he's done along with his wife is to bring french artworks into the presidential palace. they brought modern artworks by artists like picasso and matisse into the presidential palace. for him, it's a showcase for french art. but also in terms of his policies, one of the things he's trying to do is to break down the barriers that prevent, as he sees it, prevent some community, some sectors of the french public from having access to the french cultural heritage, which is admired around the world. so he's trying to get more access for people in more underprivileged areas, get more

access to culture not only culture with a capital "c" but also musical culture coming from different areas of the world. france is a big melting pot. there are lots of different communities in france. i think president macron is trying to bring all the cultural heritage of these different communities under the big tent of french culture. culture is a big deal for president macron. >> he's attending these ceremonies with his wife. tell us about her. >> well, that's a very interesting story. brigitte macron was actually his theater teacher in high school. their relationship developed into a romance. she ultimately heft her family, her husband and three cre