President Trump is visiting France and its new president, Emmanuel Macron, at an auspicious moment for the French economy. After years of lackluster performance following the global financial crisis, unemployment has fallen below 10 percent, and labor market reforms are taking hold. Trump and Macron are both relative political outsiders who have disrupted their countries’ established parties, and they face some similar economic problems, such as companies moving well-paid factory jobs to lower-cost countries. But Macron favors globalization and free trade, while Trump has championed “America first” protectionism. France ran a $15.6 billion trade surplus with the U.S. in 2016. 

Click the audio player above to hear the full story.