This image of Trump meeting European leaders was mocked online: ‘Impossible for PM Modi to sit like this’

The new image released by the White House of European leaders sitting around US President Donald  Trump’s desk during their visit to Washington, DC, has been mocked by social media users and the Chinese state media, which termed it “embarrassing powerplay”. The image shows Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, German Chancellor  Friedrich Merz, Finland President Alexander Stubb, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the EU Commission, gathered around Trump’s table at Oval Office.

The image was shared by the official account of the White House on Tuesday with the caption: ‘A historic day at the White House as European leaders joined President Trump in the Oval Office. President Donald J. Trump is the President of PEACE’.

However, the image was derided by the Chinese state-backed ‘Global Times’ for its “embarrassing power play”. The report said the embarrassing power play overshadowed what was meant to be a show of global unity.

While German media DW said the European leaders were sitting in a “protective semicircle” to save Zelenskyy from another embarrassment, UK-based Independent said Trump seemed to be “hosting a bunch of unruly schoolchildren”.

Daniel Foubert, a French-Polish geoeconomist, said on X that “The EU has made Europe meaningless.” “European leaders rushed to Washington in numbers, desperate to be seen, desperate to be heard. They came not as partners but as petitioners, waiting for the word of one man who now holds all the cards,” Foubert said.

The picture was criticised by social media users as well. One user wrote: “Do none of these ‘leaders’ have any testosterone whatsoever or PR teams that can approve/reject seating arrangements. Most embarrassing thing I’ve ever seen for the EU.”

One user from India wrote: “Why is Trump angry with India? Because European leaders are swallowing an impossible level of humiliation. Italian PM, German Chancellor, French President... all sitting like kids in principal's office…” “Impossible for PM Modi to sit like this,” he said.

World