For world leaders, a handshake is never just a greeting. Monday’s handshake between President Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron at a G7 summit was especially strange, according to body language experts. Trump and Macron have a history of awkward, intense handshakes. In 2017, the pair shook hands for almost 30 seconds. Trump is known for tugging people toward him and not letting go, but that energetic, dominant style was absent this time.
A Limp and Disengaged Greeting
A great handshake usually has firm elbow pumps and sustained eye contact, but this one had neither. When Trump and Macron shook hands, Trump’s wrist was limply straight down while Macron reached upward. “Trump is literally hanging his hand downward,” which is what is known as a “dead fish” handshake, where the other person has to “do all the work,” said Denise Dudley, a clinical psychologist and behavioral expert.
Lack of Eye Contact
In a video of the handshake, Trump closes his eyes before shaking Macron’s hand, and to body language experts, this lack of eye contact indicates Trump’s disinterest in the proceedings. “God give me strength, I’m about to do this thing that I don’t want to do,” Dudley said.
Timing and Fatigue
This handshake occurred one day after Trump’s late-night UFC fight celebration of his 80th birthday, and experts suggested the timing may have played a role. “It seems like someone stayed up too late,” said Traci Brown, a body language expert and behavior analyst. “He’s there in body, but that’s it.”
Off-Brand Behavior
Above all, the body language experts were struck by the handshake’s disengaged nature, which is so unlike Trump’s usual “yank-and-grab” style, Brown said. When Trump shook hands with French first lady Brigitte Macron, he held her hand for about 13 seconds. But for the G7 photo-op with Macron, Trump’s hand had no energy behind it. “It’s off-brand for him,” Brown said. “His brand is power and force, and so this is the exact opposite of that.”
“It’s a limp handshake for sure,” said behavioral scientist Abbie Maroño. “He’s very passive, almost like it’s not worth his time... It felt so passive that it was disrespectful.”
Passive-Aggressive Signals
For Dudley, Trump’s disengaged handshake suggests “I can’t be bothered to address this man and make it look pleasant,” because Trump made “Macron have to come up in there and find his hand.” When people do a “dead fish” handshake, you are making the other person do the work of keeping the handshake going, which is why this behavior suggests “I’m not going to give you my full energy. I’m not going to acknowledge you as an equal,” Dudley said.
When people in corporate America do a limp handshake, it’s simply rude. But when world leaders do it, it can be especially revealing about the current state of U.S.-France relations. “Trump should be treating him like an equal, but he’s not,” Dudley said. During the summit, Trump called Macron “a very special friend,” but his disengaged handshake belied that intimacy.
Words vs. Body Language
“Handshakes tell you what’s going on deeply unconsciously with people,” Brown said, and Trump’s lack of participation suggests “there’s no energy put into Macron, or possibly this event.” “This is a classic situation of words saying one thing and the body saying the other,” Maroño said. “And whenever the words and the body say different things, I always kind of lean towards what a body’s saying.”
