No-shows by Trump’s envoy to France increase diplomatic friction
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US Ambassador to France Charles Kushner has twice failed to show up after being summoned by French officials.
PHOTO: AFP
- US envoy Charles Kushner defies French diplomatic norms, skipping summonses and publicly criticising France, leading to a "power struggle" and strained relations.
- Kushner, driven by anti-Semitism concerns, published a letter to Macron, which US sources say "jolted" French officials into action against rising anti-Semitic acts.
- Kushner's behaviour reflects a "brash new breed" of Trump-era "America-first diplomacy" across Europe, where ambassadors challenge traditional customs and cause diplomatic stirs.
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PARIS - Mr Charles Kushner shows no interest in learning French, pays little heed to the strict codes of Parisian bureaucracy, and causes consternation in the nation that shaped modern diplomacy.
Since arriving in Paris last summer, President Donald Trump’s top emissary to France has upended French expectations of how a US ambassador should behave, underlining a brash new breed of America-first diplomacy across Europe.
The choice of Mr Kushner for a job once held by Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson has long raised eyebrows in Paris.
A property mogul with no previous diplomatic experience, Mr Kushner served a federal US jail sentence for illegal campaign contributions and tax evasion, but was pardoned by Mr Trump in 2020. His son Jared is married to Mr Trump’s daughter, Ivanka.
Mr Kushner landed with a bang in Paris, writing an open letter to President Emmanuel Macron weeks after his arrival in which he accused France of not doing enough to tackle anti-Semitism.
Mr Macron called Mr Kushner’s comments an “unacceptable statement for somebody who is supposed to be a diplomat”, and the envoy was summoned to the Foreign Ministry, but did not show up.
Mr Kushner, 71, also failed to appear on Feb 23 when summoned after the embassy reposted on social media platform X comments by the US State Department’s Counterterrorism bureau following the killing of a French far-right activist.
A French diplomatic source said Mr Kushner would be barred from meeting government officials after the Feb 23 no-show.
Mr Kushner called Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, a source close to Mr Barrot said on Feb 24, and “expressed his desire not to interfere in our public debate”.
They agreed to meet in the coming days, the source added.
The US Embassy in Paris has yet to comment on the incident, and did not immediately respond to requests for comment for this story. Neither did the State Department.
French public law professor Julien Jeanneney, an expert on the US Supreme Court, said Mr Kushner and France’s Foreign Ministry had been locked in a “power struggle” since Mr Kushner’s letter on anti-Semitism was published.
“The function of a diplomat is not to lecture the country where he is posted, at least not publicly,” Professor Jeanneney said. “Publishing such a letter goes against basic diplomatic customs. And not responding to the summons from the Foreign Minister is... a sign of defiance.”
Feathers ruffled in Europe
Trump-appointed ambassadors have been causing a stir across Europe, which the President’s administration says risks “civilisational erasure”.
In Poland, US Ambassador Tom Rose broke ties with the Speaker of Parliament after he declined to support Mr Trump’s Nobel Peace Prize ambitions. In Belgium, US Ambassador Bill White was summoned by Belgium’s foreign ministry after alleging anti-Semitism over a clampdown on unsanctioned circumcisions.
Relations between Paris and Mr Trump’s team have been strained over issues including trade, European territorial sovereignty, digital regulation and free speech.
Yet, Mr Kushner, an Orthodox Jew, is more driven by concerns about anti-Semitism than by seeking to Make America Great Again, US and French sources say.
Mr Nicolas Conquer, who runs a MAGA-inspired French think-tank and speaks with Mr Kushner’s team, said: “I don’t see him with a MAGA cap. He is not the standard-bearer of MAGA in France.”
Mr Philippe Karsenty, spokesman for the Comite Trump France, who has met Mr Kushner several times, said the US Ambassador views anti-Semitism as a deadly virus that affects the body politic, and was determined that it be stopped before it is too late.
“It is about ensuring that France in 2026 is not France in 1939.”
US sources acknowledged that Mr Kushner’s open letter went down badly in France, but said it jolted Paris officials into action. Anti-Semitic acts surged to record highs after the start of the Gaza war in 2023, but fell 16 per cent in 2025 compared with in 2024.
French and US officials also said Mr Kushner’s proximity to Mr Trump was a plus, even if Mr Macron largely chooses to speak to Mr Trump directly by cellphone.
Mr Kushner speaks no French and has shown little aptitude for it, both French and US officials said. He relies heavily on his chief of staff, Mr Gabriel Scheinmann, a fluent French speaker adept at navigating France’s political class, they said.
Mr Kushner also goes to bed early and often begins firing off e-mails around 4.30am, French and US officials said.
Mr Karsenty said: “He wakes up early, goes to bed early, does not host useless receptions.
“He meets very few unnecessary people. He is not at an age to learn a language, and he did not come for that. He came to act.” REUTERS
