Trump set for high-stakes talks with world leaders at the reopening of Notre Dame in Paris

President-elect Donald Trump will face an explosive diplomatic clash during his visit to Paris on Saturday, with an expected meeting with the president of the Republic of Georgia amid street protests over the disputed election there.

Trump, who is traveling to France at the invitation of President Emmanuel Macron for the reopening of Notre Dame, is expected to hold the meeting at the restored cathedral.

“They’re having a meeting at Notre Dame. Macron mediated the meeting and is taking her to the meeting,” a source told DailyMail.com, speaking about the Georgian president.

There are also indications that he will meet Ukrainian President Zelenskiy at the event, marking the trip as Trump’s first new diplomatic effort since the election.

The planned meeting with the Georgian leader comes at a tense time. Protesters gather every night at parliament in Tbilisi over the ruling party’s decision to suspend negotiations on joining the European Union. Police have orchestrated a crackdown, but demonstrators have continued nightly street demonstrations, sometimes being shot at by police water cannons.

Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze announced on Thursday that his country would suspend talks on membership of the European Union for four years, until the end of 2029. Last year, the country was given conditional status as a candidate country.

It would be Trump’s first appearance at a hotspot on the Russian periphery during the transition. He has already shocked the world’s capitals with his statements about tariffs and border security demands from Canada and Mexico.

Up to 50 world leaders and heads of state will join Macron to mark the occasion, with Trump coming at the president’s invitation.

Argentina’s right-wing leader Javier Milei’s first meeting with Trump since the November election. It has yet to be determined how Trump will deal with issues close to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s heart – including in the former Soviet republics of Georgia and Ukraine.

Georgian President Salome Zourabichvili’s term is coming to an end, but she is refusing to give up her post due to the crisis in her country and a rift with the ruling Georgian Dream party.

A Ukrainian government source told AFP that President Zelensky could also meet Trump in Paris – indicating the president-elect could have his diplomatic plate full during the trip.

‘The President of Ukraine will attend the festivities marking the restoration of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. He will meet with President Macron,” the official said, amid rumors in Washington of a reunion. Trump and Zelensky met in late September.

Zourabichvili said her mission was to “represent the voice of the people who are on the streets,” telling Reuters: “They need someone to rally behind and I am that figure.”

The pro-Russian Georgian Dream won parliamentary elections seven weeks ago, which the European Parliament condemned as unfair.

The US imposed sanctions on Prime Minister Irakli Kobakhidze in June, before the elections, accusing him of undermining democracy.

“I remind everyone that there will be no revolution in Georgia,” the prime minister said. Regime police arrested an opposition leader on Wednesday in another development case.

In a warning with dark undertones, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, a key adviser to Putin, said Sunday that Georgia is “fast moving along the Ukrainian path into the dark abyss.” He said it would end “very badly.”

Georgian-American businessman Giorgi Rtskhiladze points to the country’s role as a crucial transit area that Putin has long wanted to control.

“If you dominate the Black Sea coast, like Odessa and Georgia, you are virtually locked in and dominate the 12 landlocked countries behind Georgia, including China,” he told DailyMail.com.

These are the most important energy transit routes to Europe.

“If you put a quantified value on that, it’s trillions of dollars and very important aspects for Europe,” he said.

Rtskhiladze played a role in the Russia investigation when the Mueller report included an infamous footnote that incorrectly referred to him as Russian and changed a quote about “some ties” from Moscow – in what could have been a reference to the debunked “golden showers’ tape that allegedly involves Trump. The D.C. Circuit ruled that he can sue to correct the report, and the case goes to the Supreme Court.

Rtskhiladze called on the president-elect to emulate Ronald Reagan in diplomatic relations with the country during the last days of the Soviet Union.

He worked with Trump on a tower project in Georgia and hosted him there in 2012 together with then-President Mikheil Saakashvili.

‘He understood very well at the time how important Georgia was for the US and how important Georgia was for the East-West combination.

“Trump said that if he ever becomes president, he would definitely make sure that Georgia gets its own sovereignty, because this is very important for us, because Georgia is the gateway between East and West,” he said.

The Trump transition did not respond to requests for comment about possible meetings.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller issued a statement last week calling on Georgia to “return to its Euro-Atlantic path.”

By suspending Georgia’s EU accession process, Georgian Dream has rejected the possibility of closer ties with Europe and made Georgia more vulnerable to the Kremlin.

‘The Georgian people overwhelmingly support integration with Europe. The United States condemns the excessive use of force by police against Georgians seeking to exercise their rights to assembly and expression, including their freedom to peacefully protest,” Miller said.