The president concluded his state visit Friday with a stop in Louisiana, home to 200,000 French speakers. There, he chatted for an hour with Twitter boss Elon Musk.
Special Envoy to New Orleans
Emmanuel Macron has chosen New Orleans, the most French of American cities, to end his state visit to the United States, leaving for a moment the troubled affairs of bilateral relations for a final “among friends.”
“The last time was in 1976, that was a long time ago,” he said Friday night (night in France) to Louisians who had gathered to listen to him in the great hall of the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA). He was referring to the last visit of French head of state Valéry Giscard d’Estaing in 1976, who himself followed in the footsteps of Charles de Gaulle in 1960. Like them, President Macron was received with warmth and enthusiasm. in the rigidity of the policy, which he did not hesitate to take full advantage of.
“Clear and frank discussion” with Elon Musk
“I really feel at home,” the head of state said, recalling the “familiar oddity” in this city, founded in 1717 by the Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Le Moine…