US President Donald Trump announced that a triumphal arch will be built in Washington, stating that "the capital of the United States is the only city in the world of this importance that does not have a triumphal arch."
During a reception at the White House, Trump said last night that a triumphal arch will be built in Washington that should match his Parisian model, or even surpass the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, which stands at the end of the Champs-Élysées, reports French television BFM.
"We're building a triumphal arch similar to the Arc de Triomphe and we're building it near the Arlington Bridge (…) in front of the Lincoln Memorial. The one that people know best is the one in Paris, France. But we're going to surpass that, and I believe very much," said Trump, who showed a model of the triumphal arch that will be built at the gala dinner.
He said that the "four pillars" of the triumphal arch in Washington are in fact already in place and that they have "been waiting for hundreds of years," but that the construction of the triumphal arch was hindered by the Civil War.
Trump issued statements against France, but also against Europe as a whole.
"The only thing they have is history, the 1860s... something like that. I always say that's the one thing you can't compete with. But we're going to have history too, at some point," Trump said.