France Mocked U.S. for Human Rights Vote, Then Quietly Apologized

France Mocked U.S. for Human Rights Vote, Then Quietly Apologized - The New York Times

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France Mocked U.S. for Human Rights Vote, Then Quietly Apologized

After the Trump administration blocked a new ambassador to Washington, the country expressed regret for a post from a French official social media account.

Listen · 5:01 min

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!Aurélien Lechevallier, in a black suit and glasses, walking and smiling. Blurry uniformed soldiers, with red plumes on their golden helmets, stand in the background.

*Aurélien Lechevallier, whom France has nominated as its ambassador to Washington, in Paris in 2024.

Credit...

Thomas Samson/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images*

By

Mark Landler

Reporting from Paris

Sept. 14, 2026, 8:14 a.m. ET

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When France compared the United States to North Korea and Russia in July, the Trump administration responded by freezing the approval of a new French ambassador to Washington.

Now, after seven weeks of American pressure, France has backed down, apologizing on Friday for the social media post that set off the dispute. That will allow France’s nomination of Aurélien Lechevallier as its ambassador to Washington to move forward, according to a senior American official and a former French official with knowledge of the situation. The two spoke on the condition of anonymity, citing the delicacy of the negotiations.

The episode illustrated the strained nature of relations during the Trump era between Europe and the United States, which have diverged over the futures of Greenland, Ukraine and the postwar international order.

The dispute erupted on July 24 after the United Nations General Assembly voted 114 to 10, with 13 abstentions, to give a second four-year term to Volker Türk, an Austrian lawyer, as high commissioner of the U.N. human rights commission.

Like North Korea and Russia, the United States opposed Mr. Türk. It cited his criticism of the United States and Israel and what it said was his reluctance to condemn repressive governments in Iran and Cuba.

“The UN human rights system has been losing credibility for decades,” the United States mission to the United Nations said in a post on social media. “Volker Türk led it to its deathbed.”

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