Macron says he will tell Trump not to be weak with Putin in Washington visit

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By John Irish and Dominique Vidalon

PARIS, Feb 20 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday he will travel to Washington to try to convince President Donald Trump that his interests were in line with European allies and that showing any weakness to Russia's Vladimir Putin would make it harder to deal with China and Iran.

"Trump, I know him. I respect him and I believe he respects me," Macron said during a one-hour question and answer session on social media. "I will tell him: deep down you cannot be weak in the face of President (Vladimir Putin). It's not you, it's not what you're made of and it's not in your interests."

Macron said the uncertainty in how Trump was handling Russia's three-year-old invasion of Ukraine was worrying for U.S. allies because he could negotiate something that was insufficient, but it was also creating uncertainty for Putin and this was something that needed to be used to help negotiations.

"The word is uncertainty. Donald Trump creates uncertainty among others because he wants to make deals, so Donald Trump creating uncertainty for Vladimir Putin is a good thing," Macron said, adding that the Russian president did not know what Trump would do or how he could act.

Macron is due to go to Washington on Monday to hold talks with Trump as Europeans seek to ensure they play a key role in negotiations to end the conflict and outline how they plan to provide security guarantees for Ukraine should there be a ceasefire.

The French leader also said showing weakness to Putin that would lead to the capitulation of Ukraine with a bad deal would also make Trump less credible to tackle China and in curbing Iran's nuclear programme.

"How can you be credible with China if you're weak with Putin?" Macron said, holding his fist firmly, and adding that letting Ukraine fall to Russia would send a strategic signal to Beijing on Taiwan.

"And you who doesn't want Iran to get the nuclear bomb, you can't be weak with someone who is helping it to get one," Macron said.

Macron, who called recent developments a new era, was speaking in a question-and-answer session on social media as part of French government efforts to make people more aware of the impact of the Ukraine war on France amid the fast-moving diplomacy since Trump took office a month ago.