Donald Trump to visit France for Bastille Day celebrations after Macron invitation

Donald Trump has accepted an invitation from French President Emmanuel Macron to visit the country for next month's Bastille Day celebration.

The invitation to the US President and First Lady Melania Trump was extended during a telephone conversation between the two leaders on Tuesday (27 June).

France celebrates Bastille Day with a military parade down the Champs-Elysees every year on 14 July, with this year's celebrations also marking a century since the arrival of US troops to Europe during the First World War.

A statement from the White House on Wednesday said: "President Trump looks forward to reaffirming America's strong ties of friendship with France, to celebrating this important day with the French people, and to commemorating the 100th anniversary of America's entry into World War I.

"The two leaders will further build on the strong counter-terrorism cooperation and economic partnership between the two countries, and they will discuss many other issues of mutual concern."

Presidents Macron and Trump met face-to-face for the first time during the Nato summit last month, engaging in an awkward white-knuckle handshake for which Trump has become infamous.

The pair have not seen eye-to-eye on every issue, with the French leader mocking Trump's subsequent decision to pull the US out of the 2015 Paris Agreement to combat climate change, calling it a "mistake" and adopting the Trump-style slogan "Make our planet great again".

France's foreign ministry also issued a video debunking some claims the White House had made on the Paris Agreement.

During a White House press briefing on Tuesday, a reporter asked Energy Secretary Rick Perry if he thought Macron's Bastille Day invitation signalled a thaw in tensions between the two countries.

"Do you see this as a way that the French are taking up his suggestion for negotiating a new climate change agreement?" the reporter asked.

"I would always look at an invitation to a party as a good thing," Perry said to laughter.

Trump and Macron's phone call was in preparation for the G20 summit in Germany on 7 July.

As well as a the Bastille Day visit, the pair discussed the need for a joint response in case of a chemical attack in Syria.

The Pentagon earlier in the week warned that US intelligence had noticed suspect activity at the launch site of the regime's apparent chemical strike in April.

Days after that strike on a rebel-held town, the US launched a cruise missile strike on an airfield used by the Syrian regime.

The French foreign ministry has not revealed if it has similar intelligence on a further chemical attack being prepared.

But following a meeting last month with Russian President Vladimir Putin, an ally of the Syrian regime, Macron drew a "very clear red line" on the use of chemical weapons and warned of reprisals against "whomever" responsible.

Security is expected to be tight in Paris and at other Bastille Day events across France after last year's celebrations in Nice were marred by an Islamist terrorist attack.

Tunisian-born Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel intentionally drove a truck through crowds on the Promenade des Anglais, killing 86 and injuring hundreds more.