PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron said U.S. President Donald Trump is weakening NATO by publicly undermining the alliance and sowing doubt about Washington’s commitment to the transatlantic partnership.

“Alliances like NATO are valuable because of the things we don’t say, because of the trust behind it,” Macron told reporters Thursday during an official visit to South Korea. “If you create doubts every day about your commitment, you empty [NATO] of its substance.”

Trump has been lashing out against European leaders who have refused his call for help as the United States and Israel wage war on Iran. On Wednesday, Trump said he was strongly considering withdrawing from the alliance, dismissing it as a “paper tiger” in an interview with The Telegraph.

European leaders this week appear to be stiffening in their resistance to U.S. requests for assistance against Iran, putting NATO under even greater strain than it already is.

The French president also hit back at some more personal comments President Trump made Wednesday, which mocked the French leader and his wife Brigitte Macron.

In a video initially posted on the White House YouTube channel before being removed, Trump said Brigitte Macron treats her husband “extremely badly” and that the French president is “still recovering from the right [hook] to the jaw,” referring to an incident in which Brigitte Macron was caught on camera slapping the French president during a visit to Vietnam last year.

Macron retorted that Trump’s comments were “inelegant” and “did not merit an answer.”

“There’s too much talk, and it’s going off in all directions. We need stability, calm and a return to peace. This is not a show,” Macron said.