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Melania dials First Ladies to offer condolences, support amid coronavirus crisis: 'We will defeat the pandemic'

In one week, FLOTUS has spoken to the First Ladies of Japan, Italy, France and Canada — Akie Abe, Laura Mattarella, Brigitte Macron, and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, respectively
UPDATED APR 10, 2020
(Getty Images)
(Getty Images)

Ever since she was forced to limit her public appearances and practice social distancing from the White House, Melania Trump is keeping herself busy by calling up her female counterparts around the world to pledge solidarity on behalf of the United States of America amid the coronavirus pandemic. 

Within a span of one week, the FLOTUS has spoken to the First Ladies of Japan, Italy, France and Canada — Akie Abe, Laura Mattarella, Brigitte Macron, and Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, respectively.

Almost all the readouts of the calls to the leaders' wives of these nations, released by the White House, sounded the same, with Melania offering condolences and prayers for their people who succumbed to the virus and assuring the that they had the support of the US as and when they needed it. 

The first call went out to Sophie on April 2, who was recovering from COVID-19 after testing positive for the virus on March 12.

"Today, First Lady Melania Trump spoke with Mrs Sophie Grégoire Trudeau of Canada. First Lady Trump expressed her well wishes for Mrs  Grégoire Trudeau’s good health, following her recovery from COVID-19 last month, and reaffirmed her deep appreciation for the continued cooperation between the United States and Canada to address unprecedented challenges related to the pandemic," according to a readout of the call released by the White House. 

(Front row L-R) First Lady of Republic of Korea Kim Jung-sook, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, First Lady of Argentina Juliana Awada, First Lady of Japan Akie Abe, US  First Lady Melania Trump, First Lady of Turkey Emine Erdogan (Top row L-R) President Interamerican Development Bank Maria Gabriela Sigala, First Lady of Singapore Ho Ching, First Lady of Canada Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, wife of European Council President Malgorzata Tusk, First Lady of Indonesia Mufidah Jusuf Kalla, Financial Stability Board Diana Carney during a guided visit to MALBA (Latin American Museum of Arts) as part of G20 Partners’ Programme on December 01, 2018 in Buenos Aires, Argentina (Getty Images)

During the call, the FLOTUS also stressed on the necessity of keeping the borders between the two neighboring countries open for essential travel and trade. "Trump conveyed the importance of the two countries’ strong economic ties, noting the recent restriction on cross-border travel related to non-essential travel while keeping the border open to essential workers and $1.7 billion in daily trade in goods. They also noted the immense multilateral repatriation efforts to bring Americans and Canadians home from cruise ships and other places around the globe, and agreed to stay in touch as the two countries work to defeat the pandemic," the statement added. 

Similarly, the next call made to Brigitte on April 3 talked about how the US could work with France to successfully overcome the global pandemic. During the call, Melania also offered "her condolences for those who have lost their lives to the coronavirus in France."

In the call to Laura, Melania "expressed optimism and hope that the positive trend would continue in Italy and stressed that the American people stand with our allay, including providing $100 million in assistance" that would go toward fighting the crisis.

The last call was made to Akie on April 9, where the FLOTUS "reaffirmed her appreciation for the high level of collaboration between the United States and Japan as both nations stand together during this global pandemic."

Apart from her calling spree, the mother-of-one has been advocating for the use of face masks and cloth coverings when people go out in the public as recommended by the CDC.

On April 9, a new PSA with Melania holding a face mask and a poster with her wearing a face mask was posted on her official Twitter page, despite her husband, President Donald Trump, going on record to tell reporters during a press briefing last week that he had no intention of complying with the "voluntary" mask measure introduced by the health officials.

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