U.S. President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron once again made headlines — this time for a handshake that seemed to last an eternity.
The two leaders clasped hands for roughly 26 seconds in what began as a standard greeting but quickly turned into something resembling an arm-wrestling contest.
The unusually long handshake took place in Egypt this week, where world leaders gathered to celebrate the peace deal between Israel and Hamas that Trump helped negotiate.
Observers couldn’t help but note the déjà vu. Back in 2017, the pair shared a similarly marathon handshake during Trump’s visit to France — that one lasting about 28 seconds and featuring the same gradual shift from polite formality to playful power move.
At one point during this latest encounter, Trump held Macron’s hand with one of his while also grasping the hand of Macron’s wife, Brigitte, creating an awkwardly choreographed moment captured by cameras from multiple angles.
Their earlier handshakes have long been a source of fascination, seen as a reflection of the two leaders’ dynamic — part competition, part camaraderie. Macron once described their interactions as intentional.
“My handshake with him is not innocent, it is not the be-all and end-all of a policy, but a moment of truth,” Macron told Le Journal du Dimanche in 2017. “We must show that we will not make small concessions, even symbolic ones, but we must not overhype anything either.”