Macron said the tree reflected the « ties that bind » France and the United States.
Beware of French presidents bearing gifts?
A mystery is brewing at the White House about what happened to an oak sapling gifted by French President Emmanuel Macron to President Trump.
Trump and Macron were snapped by photographers last Monday as they shoveled dirt onto the young tree during its ceremonial planting on the White House’s South Lawn.
Melania Trump and Macron’s wife Brigitte also attended the planting.
The sapling, taken from a World War I battle site in north-east France where about 2,000 U. S. troops died in the Battle of Belleau Wood fighting a German offensive, was a gift from Macron on the occasion of his state visit to Washington.
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Macron said the tree reflected the « ties that bind » France and the United States.
But by the end of the week, the tree had vanished from the lawn.
A Reuters photographer took a picture on Saturday of the area where the tree once stood and it showed only a pale yellow patch of grass in its place.
The White House hasn’t offered any official explanation, but Gerard Araud, France’s Ambassador in Washington, said in a tweet that the tree was placed in quarantine, which he said was « mandatory for any living organism imported to the U. S. »
Araud added that when the tree was planted its roots had been wrapped in plastic.
