French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Pyrenees mountains today, the second day of his official visit to the country, during which Xi did not appear ready to make major concessions on trade or foreign policy.

Macron and his wife Brigitte, who welcomed Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan at Tarbes-Lourdes Pyrenees Airport in a wintry setting, took them to lunch in the French president’s favorite mountains, where his grandmother on her side was born his mother.

Macron, Xi and their wives, accompanied by translators, will eat lamb, cheese and a blueberry pie at a traditional restaurant high in the mountains, about an hour’s drive from the airport. The two couples go there in separate cars.

Advisers to the French president described the trip to the Pyrenees as an off-the-record activity in which they will have the opportunity for direct, one-on-one discussions with Xi, without the intervention of aides on either side.

One of Macron’s main goals is to persuade Xi to reduce the trade imbalance between the two continents, with better access for European companies to China and lower subsidies for Chinese exporters.

Emmanuel Macron has a history of attempting to forge off-the-cuff personal relationships with his partners, even those with whom he strongly disagrees.in attempts that are often not so successful in order to manage to receive more from them.

The French leader likes to hug, wink or pat his partners on the back, something he did not do with Xi, who is not used to hugs.

Macron did this during the presidency of Donald Trump and with Russian President Vladimir Putin before the war in Ukraine and more recently with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, to the delight of social media commentators.

Xi’s invitation to the Pyrenees recalls Trump’s presence with Macron to watch the Bastille Day parade in 2017 or Putin’s trip to the French president’s summer resort of Bregançon in southeastern France in 2019.

“Emmanuel Macron attempted this narcissistic diplomacy of ‘flattering the tyrant’ with Vladimir Putin five years ago, with the fortress of Bregançon … the camaraderie,” Raphael Glucksman, head of the French Socialists’ ballot for the European Parliament.

“And all this ended with the invasion of Ukraine and threats to our democracies,” he added.

The 27 members of the European Union were running a €396 billion trade deficit with China in 2022, according to European Commission data, compared to 250.3 billion a year earlier.

French and Chinese companies yesterday struck a number of deals in fields ranging from energy to transport on the sidelines of Xi’s visit, but most were agreements to cooperate or renew commitments to cooperate and there were no major deals.

European hopes for an Airbus jet order to coincide with Xi’s visit appear to have been dashed, with the two sides agreeing only to expand cooperation.

Industry sources say the two sides have been in negotiations for a new aircraft order for months.

Meanwhile, French brandy producers rallied today as Xi demonstrated what Macron described as an “open attitude” to the trade dispute between the two countries.

A French diplomatic source said China would not impose taxes or duties on French brandy pending the investigation. Xi did not comment on the issue during his several public statements yesterday.