WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump plans to celebrate Bastille Day in France.
The White House announced Wednesday that Trump has accepted French President Emmanuel Macron’s invitation to help celebrate France’s national holiday on July 14.
Macron invited Trump to visit when they met for the first time at a NATO summit in Brussels in late May. On Tuesday, the French president extended the invitation again when he and Trump spoke by telephone, and Trump accepted.
The holiday commemorates the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789, an event that marked a turning point in the French Revolution.
The occasion will also be used to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the U.S. entry into World War I, Macron’s office said. American soldiers will walk alongside French soldiers during the traditional Bastille Day military parade down Paris’ famed Champs-Elysees avenue.
White House statement confirms Trump is going to Paris for Bastille Day pic.twitter.com/OgOcZqijpx
— Bradd Jaffy (@BraddJaffy) June 28, 2017
Separately on July 14, Macron plans to travel to Nice to mark a more somber occasion — the truck attack that day in 2016 that killed 86 people and injured hundreds in the resort town in the south of France. It was unclear whether Trump would join Macron in Nice.
White House press secretary Sean Spicer said Trump looks forward to reaffirming the U.S.’s “strong ties of friendship” with France and marking the national holiday along with the U.S. entrance into World War I.
Spicer said the leaders will discuss cooperation on countering terrorism, as well as the economy and other issues.
Trump is scheduled to visit Europe shortly before Bastille Day, when he travels to Poland and Germany from July 5-8.
DARLENE SUPERVILLE
