President Donald Trump on Sunday congratulated Emmanuel Macron on his victory in the French presidential election.
“I look very much forward to working with him,” Trump tweeted.
Congratulations to Emmanuel Macron on his big win today as the next President of France. I look very much forward to working with him!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 7, 2017
White House press secretary Sean Spicer also released a statement congratulating Macron on his win.
“We congratulate President-elect Macron and the people of France on their successful presidential election,” the statement read. “We look forward to working with the new President and continuing our close cooperation with the French government.”
Trump declined to explicitly endorse a candidate in the French election, as U.S. presidents typically refrain from doing so, but said in an April interview with the Associated Press that far-right candidate Marine Le Pen was “the strongest on borders.”
“Whoever is the toughest on radical Islamic terrorism, and whoever is the toughest at the borders, will do well in the election,” he said, but claimed his comments were not an endorsement, and “no different” than the predictions of an average observer.