French President Emmanuel Macron confirmed that there was indeed a deeper significance to the prolonged handshake he shared with US President Donald Trump in Brussels.
"My handshake with him, it's not innocent," Macron told the Journal du Dimanche in an interview published Sunday. "It's not the alpha and the omega of politics, but a moment of truth."
The two newly-minted leaders met in Brussels on Thursday and shook hands in full view of the press.
Pool reporter Phillip Rucker of the Washington Post, who was in the room, described it:
"They shook hands for an extended period of time. Each president gripped the other's hand with considerable intensity, their knuckles turning white and their jaws clenching and faces tightening."
Steve Holland, who covers the White House for Reuters, tweeted this: "The photogs noticed that Trump and Macron were gripping their hands hard... Trump seems to just want his hand back."
On at least one, and maybe two, occasions during the tug of war Trump tries to pull away and Macron just keeps holding on.