On January 21, the French Presidential Palace officially rejected US President Donald Trump's statement that he had put pressure on French President Emmanuel Macron to raise domestic drug prices.
This is the latest development in the escalating verbal war between the two NATO allies, in the context of a series of threats from Mr. Trump - from the intention to control Greenland to the plan to impose taxes on countries that do not comply with Washington's requirements - pushing transatlantic relations into an unprecedented state of tension.
There is information that President Emmanuel Macron has increased drug prices. This is not true. The President does not decide drug prices. Prices are managed by the social security system and reality is still stable. Anyone who has stepped into a pharmacy in France knows that" - The Elysee wrote on social network X.
Notably, this post also attached a GIF image recording the moment Mr. Trump clicked his lip to say "fake news", along with a similar line below, as a direct rebuttal to the statement from the US side.
Earlier the same day, in a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos (Switzerland), President Trump announced that he had threatened to impose taxes to force Mr. Macron to increase drug prices in France.
According to Mr. Trump, President Macron has been warned that France needs to quickly adjust its drug price policy, otherwise Washington will impose a 25% tariff on French goods exported to the US, and even a 100% tariff on wine and champagne.
The US President also affirmed that the French side later accepted this request, and said that it usually only takes "about three minutes" to reach agreement when issuing similar warnings to other countries.
Mr. Macron is considered one of the leaders of the European Union (EU) with the toughest stance against Mr. Trump's threats, especially related to the Greenland issue.
The French President once publicly called on the EU to activate the most powerful trade instruments to deal with Washington, while emphasizing that Europe will not succumb to unilateral acts of pressure.
Last year, the French government created an account on social network X called @frenchresponse, to refute false information and distorted campaigns.
This account has been operating more and more frequently in recent weeks, especially when facing controversial statements and declarations from the Trump administration.
