There was a mutual kiss on the cheek in the East Room, clasped hands and the first state dinner of the Trump era.
WASHINGTON — The couple seemed happy to be together again.
When President Trump welcomed President Emmanuel Macron of France to the White House on Tuesday for the first official state visit of the Trump administration, their body language went beyond the usual respectful handshakes of two world leaders meeting for high-level talks and bordered on the intimate.
There was a mutual kiss on the cheek in the East Room, where Mr. Macron clasped hands with Mr. Trump, pulling him in for an embrace and a brief peck as Mr. Trump puckered his lips slightly to reciprocate.
“I like him a lot,” Mr. Trump explained to reporters and officials looking on.
Earlier in the Oval Office, the president had gently brushed what he said was dandruff off Mr. Macron’s shoulder.
“We have to make him perfect,” Mr. Trump,71, said of the trimmer Mr. Macron, 40. “He is perfect.”
For all of the disagreements and differences of opinions that the presidents hashed out privately on Tuesday — none more prominent than whether to keep or scrap the nuclear deal with Iran — Mr. Trump and Mr. Macron seemed to revel in each other’s presence, pouring on the charm.
Perhaps it was a diplomatic strategy on the part of Mr. Macron, who hosted Mr. Trump last summer at the Bastille Day parade in Paris. The French president came to the United States with an improbable wish list for the American president, including staying in the Iran deal, keeping American troops in Syria and exempting European countries from steel and aluminum tariffs.
Or perhaps Mr. Trump was simply trying to please, or dominate, his guest.
Whatever the case, there was no mistaking the bromance between the two leaders as they praised each other effusively and emphasized that they saw eye to eye, even if they did not agree issue by issue.
When Mr. Trump coyly foreshadowed what his decision would be next month on the fate of the Iran deal — perhaps only Mr. Macron had an idea what he would do, he said, glancing over at him — the French president winked in silent response, as if sharing a secret with a confidant.
They were to toast each other on Tuesday evening at a state dinner, where the Trumps were to welcome Mr. Macron; his wife, Brigitte; and around 120 other people in the State Dining Room. The White House staff had filled it almost to the point of being cramped, with 13 tables, a dynamic that East Wing aides described as “intimate.”
The guest list was tightly controlled and had been the subject of internal deliberations for weeks, to the point where several versions of it were drafted, according to one White House official.
A few high-profile Trump confidants slipped through: Rupert Murdoch, the Australian-born media mogul who has parlayed his New York tabloid-era relationship with Mr. Trump into a direct line with the president, was on the guest list with his wife, the former supermodel Jerry Hall. And Treasury Secretary Stevin Mnuchin, whom the president has trusted since their days together on the campaign, was to attend with his wife, Louise Linton.
It was a stark contrast from the chilly reception Mr. Trump appeared to receive from his wife, Melania, earlier in the day as they awaited the Macrons’ arrival on the South Lawn, when he reached his fingers over gingerly to try to clasp hands with Mrs. Trump, who at first did not reciprocate. Ultimately, they grabbed each other’s hands.
Mrs. Trump, who was alongside Mrs. Macron for most of the day, was half-hidden behind a large wide-brim white hat, custom made by the French-born Hervé Pierre, who designed Mrs. Trump’s inauguration gown. Mrs. Trump paired the hat with a white-belted skirtsuit by the American designer Michael Kors.
