An oak tree sapling gifted by French President Emmanuel Macron to U.S. President Donald Trump is no more, various media reports on Monday alleged.
Trump and Macron planted the specimen on the White House lawn during Macron’s state visit to the U.S. in April 2018, but it went missing shortly afterwards. French Ambassador to the U.S., Gerard Araud, tweeted at the time the sapling had been quarantined to comply with U.S. customs regulations.
French news agency AFP offers a different take on its fate. It reported Monday the tree, meant to symbolize friendship between the two nations, died in quarantine and was never replanted.
Quarantine is mandatory for any living organism imported to the U.S.
The small European oak hailed from Belleau Wood, where more 2,000 American marines died, and over 7,000 were injured, in battle on June 1918 during World War I.