Trump Taunts Macron about Paris Deal, Yellow Vests

"The Paris Agreement isn’t working out so well for Paris. Protests and riots all over France. People do not want to pay large sums of money, much to third world countries (that are questionably run), in order to maybe protect the environment. Chanting ‘We Want Trump!’ Love France,” Trump tweeted from the White House early on Saturday.

The Yellow Vest movement emerged last month after French President Emmanuel Macron announced hikes in fuel taxes to encourage a transition towards greener energy. The French government have now canceled the prices hikes but protests continue nevertheless.

Security forces fired teargas grenades and deployed armored vehicles to control the crowds in central Paris on Saturday, while at least 135 people were injured. By the early evening, nearly 1,000 were held in custody.

Nominally, the demonstrations began last month over a proposed environmental fuel tax that was directly inspired by the Paris climate accords of 2015, under which France promised to cut its carbon emissions by 75 percent.

Trump’s tweet hits the mark, but also paints a reductive picture of the Yellow Vests, who are not just aggrieved right-wingers angry that the government wants to take away their petrol cars.

Right from the start, the Yellow Vests – who take their name from the high-visibility jackets that drivers must wear if they step outside the car on the roadside – were a symptom of a wider resistance to the presidency of Emmanuel Macron. As the president himself, a former banker who served in a center-left government, has steered a slippery course, so have his opponents come from the entire political spectrum, coalescing around an issue to create the biggest pushback since he was elected in May last year.