French President Emmanuel Macron has described Donald Trump's return to the White House and his final steps as US president as an "electric shock" that should force the EU to take responsibility for its security and the future of Ukraine.

In an interview with the Financial Times published on Friday, two days after Trump had a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Macron urged the EU to “flex its muscles” on its defense and revive its economy. The bloc must embrace a “strategic wake-up call,” take more responsibility for its own security and reduce its dependence on both the U.S. and China, he said.

"It's an electric shock. We need asymmetric shocks, we need external shocks. It's an exogenous shock for Europeans," Macron told the FT.

According to him, the model in which the EU relied on the Chinese market as an "exit", the "American umbrella" for security and "cheap Russian gas" for production no longer exists.

Macron called on the EU to reduce its dependence on American weapons and urged members of the bloc to invest in the Franco-Italian SAMP-T air defense system. He claimed it was “better” than the US-made Patriot system used by some EU countries.