Trump, Macron to meet after French president criticized NATO

French President Emmanuel Macron says he will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump ahead of the Dec. 3-4 NATO summit in London.

Macron tweeted that he had an “excellent discussion” with Trump on Monday evening about Syria, Iran and the NATO military alliance. They evoked “lots of convergences,” he said, without elaborating.

The phone call comes after Macron claimed last week that a lack of U.S. leadership is causing the “brain death” of NATO and said the European Union must step up and start acting as a strategic world power.

Trump’s preoccupation with defense spending has been a constant theme since he came to office in 2016 and is expected to feature at the Dec. 3-4 summit in London.