The Trump administration has made it clear that it will not be considering a request from a French politician to return the Statue of Liberty to France.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt firmly responded, “Absolutely not. My advice to that unnamed low-level French politician would be to remind them that it’s only because of the United States of America that the French are not speaking German right now.” She added that this likely referred to the collaboration between the U.S. and France during World War II, which played a pivotal role in defeating Nazi Germany. “They should be grateful,” she concluded.
Leavitt’s remarks came after Raphaël Glucksmann, a member of the European Parliament from France, made a statement at a party convention. Glucksmann argued that America under the Trump administration no longer represented the values the Statue of Liberty symbolizes, a monument gifted to the U.S. by France in the 1880s as a symbol of the bond between the two nations, American independence from Britain, and the abolition of slavery.
During his speech, Glucksmann said, “We’re going to say to the Americans who have chosen to side with the tyrants, to the Americans who fired researchers for demanding scientific freedom: ‘Give us back the Statue of Liberty.’”
Since the start of the second Trump administration, the Department of Health and Human Services has dismissed thousands of scientists and public health leaders. Furthermore, significant cuts have been made to research grants across the country, a move that experts warn could lead to the collapse of research institutions that rely on these funds to operate.
If the U.S. does not reinstate these positions and funds, Glucksmann stated that France would be more than willing to take in the U.S. research sector.
It remains unclear how France could compel the Trump administration to comply with such a request. The statue, being federal property, cannot simply be taken back by France. Such an action could also create significant diplomatic friction, something French President Emmanuel Macron has been trying to avoid by negotiating a peace agreement between Russia and Ukraine with President Trump.
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