Macron, Trump Push to Reopen Hormuz, Aid Ukraine — SkimNews
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- Emmanuel Macron met Donald Trump on September 21, 2026, in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, calling the talks 'very constructive' on the conflicts in West Asia and Ukraine.
- Macron said there was a 'willingness to reopen' the Strait of Hormuz — blockaded by Iran during the West Asia war — with unnamed 'solutions' discussed to allow more container ships and tankers through without a comprehensive deal.
- The Red Sea has become a critical oil shipping route with Hormuz blocked, but Iran-backed Houthis' takeover of a key strait there has complicated alternative shipping corridors.
- Macron pressed Trump on supplying defensive weapons — specifically missile interceptors — to Kyiv, framing the request as a defensive measure and saying Ukraine's friends need to be helped 'faster and more strongly.'
- Macron and Trump also discussed the 'prospect of an energy truce and a moratorium in the Black Sea,' with Macron meeting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy the same day to coordinate on protecting Ukraine's energy system.
- Macron arrived in New York from Saint Pierre and Miquelon, where he had met Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney amid an ongoing US-Canada tariff war.
Why it matters: Macron called the meeting 'very constructive' but surfaced only a 'willingness' to reopen Hormuz and a 'prospect' of a Black Sea energy truce — no concrete deals. The specific ask was missile interceptors for Ukraine, framed as purely defensive. With Iran's Hormuz blockade and Houthi Red Sea control squeezing oil routes simultaneously, shipping alternatives remain precarious.
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