As President Donald Trump and his administrationbuild ties with far-right parties across Europe, France's National Rally is offering a wary response to Washington's overtures, as it surges in the polls and hopes to finally clinch victory in the country's 2027 presidential election.

Multiple factors are shaping the National Rally's cautious approach towards Trump and his MAGA movement, analysts say: From the French party's traditional, if fading, distrust of a 'hegemonic' United States, to the negative impact on France of US tariffs, to strong antipathy towards Trump on the part of many French voters.

"Overall they are relatively ideologically aligned with Trump, and they've been positive about his re-election," said Camille Lons, deputy Paris Office head of the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) of the National Rally. "But they're much more careful than a number of other populist leaders in Europe. There is more distance in the relationship than in Germany, or Italy for example."

In Germany, some observers believe that strong backing by Trump allies, like Vice President JD Vance and Elon Musk, helped to catapult the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party to second place in the February elections. In Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's warm relations with the US leader have lifted her standing within the European Union, which sees her as a potential bridge to smoothing ties with Washington.

The Trump administration's influence is also discernable elsewhere in Europe, including in Hungary and in Poland, both of which hosted the US-founded Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) this year — a first for Warsaw, where the Trump-endorsed candidate Karol Nawrocki won June's presidential elections.

"From the American side,........

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