French president opens up about tense handshake with Trump

Remember the old saying, “You can tell a lot about a man from his handshake”?

Well, it seems that rings true for US president Donald Trump.

He’s been snapped in various awkward and tense handshakes with world leaders in recent months, and it’s prompted plenty of commentary and even a few memes on social media.

Most recently he was involved in a tense handshake stand-off with newly elected French president Emmanuel Macron.

The two sat down for a meeting at the NATO Summit in Belgium last week, and it was certainly interesting.

Macron and Trump shook hands for the camera and it’s been described as one of the most tense handshakes between world leaders ever photographed.

The pair gripped each other’s hands tightly, sporting clenched jaws and look intently at one another.

Trump meets his handshake match in Macron https://t.co/Ys3S4wChX1 pic.twitter.com/OApBZEWB5X

— Bloomberg (@business) May 25, 2017

Now Macron has opened up what happened, and he’s described the handshake as “a moment of truth”.

In an interview with French publication Journal du Dimanche, Macron said the handshake “not innocent”.

“It’s not the alpha and the omega of politics, but a moment of truth,” he said.

“One must show that we won’t make little concessions, even symbolic ones.

“I don’t let anything go. That’s how one makes oneself respected.”

It’s not the first time Trump’s handshakes have got people talking.

He had an awkwardly long handshake with Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.

All eyes on Abe: The very awkward handshake between Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and President Donald Trumphttps://t.co/8zmGtw5XNm pic.twitter.com/e3KSIjYIhH

— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) February 11, 2017

And then there was his handshake with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.

Pres. Trump and Canadian PM Justin Trudeau shake hands in the Oval Office https://t.co/dZ5dNUihd0 pic.twitter.com/SnKFjVWuKA

— CNN (@CNN) February 13, 2017

According to CNN’s editor-at-large Chris Cilliza, handshakes are a “very big thing” for Trump.

“Trump seems to view the handshake as a sort of battle of wills and a battle for power all wrapped into one,” he writes.

“Trump’s go-to handshake move is the tug-and-pull.

“Trump also tends to hold the handshake for about 5 seconds longer than you might expect.”

Tell us, do you believe a handshake says a lot about a person? Has the younger generation lost the art of handshaking?