p(firstLetter). I met Emmanuel Macron in March 2017, at the conclusion of writing a profile for the Sunday Times, on a train to Bordeaux. I remember I was impressed by his ability to explain complex things. But I did not leave entirely dazzled. I felt like I was interviewing a jukebox. Or, perhaps, that I had met a man who was the French embodiment of The Economist.
Macron spoke like the serene unsigned editorial itself: “Europe,” “NATO,” “the rules-based international order.” I nodded along. There was only one growth model and what France needed to do was get closer to it. Tax cuts, privatizations, supply-side reforms—they were painful, yes, but they all had to be done. Only growth, faster growth, would end the French malaise.
Read the full article in the American Interest "here.":