The White House responded to a French lawmaker’s call for the Statue of Liberty to be returned because the U.S., he said, no longer represents the values that prompted France to offer the statue.
“Absolutely not. And my advice to this unnamed low-level French politician is to remind them that it is only because of the United States of America that the French do not speak German now. So they should be very grateful to our great country,” White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt said at a briefing when asked if President Donald Trump wanted to return the Statue of Liberty to France.
A French member of the European Parliament recently called on the U.S. to return the Statue of Liberty, originally donated by the French people to mark the centenary of U.S. independence, because the U.S. no longer represents the values that prompted France to offer the statue.
“Give us back the Statue of Liberty, it was our gift to you. But apparently you despise her. So she will be happy here with us,” said centre-left politician Raphael Glucksmann.
The Statue of Liberty was unveiled in New York Harbour on 28 October 1886 to mark the centenary of the American Declaration of Independence as a gift from the French people to America. It was designed by Auguste Bartholdi, a Frenchman.