The President of the United States of America Donald Trump has hit out at his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron for describing the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) as 'brain dead.'
In a brutal salvo, Trump accused Macron of being nasty, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has reported.
"It is a very, very nasty statement, " Trump said according to the BBC.
"I think they have a very high unemployment rate in France. France is not doing well economically at all," he said.
"It is a very tough statement to make when you have such difficulty in France when you look at what is going on. They have had a very rough year. You just can't go around making statements like that about Nato. It is very disrespectful," he added.
The US President told members that NATO was playing an important role in security, saying that he found the French head of state's words "very insulting."
A month ago, in an interview with the Economist, Emmanuel Macron decried what he described as the lack of cooperation among NATO members of the key issues.
He even took a dig at the US over its weakening commitment to the organisation.
Trump's strong words came just hours to the official start of the NATO Summit that risks being overshadowed by rows between the participating countries.
NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg stood beside Trump as the US president tore into his French counterpart, the Washington Post noted in its report.