Macron brought the oak sapling with him from a key French World War I battlefront 100 km northeast of Paris, where a US Marine Corps unit had beaten back a German offensive in the summer of 1918 at the cost of over 9,000 lives.
President Macron had referred to the tree as a "reminder at the White House of these ties that bind us." The Marines tweeted that the two countries' "commitment to peace and freedom" was "as strong today as it was in 1918."
However, a few days later, a Reuters photographer discovered that a yellow spot was all that was left in the oak sapling's place. Social media users aren't quite sure what to make of the mystery of the missing tree.
French Twitter users in particular were quick to dub the mysterious disappearance as a bad omen, or worse, a snub.
"The oak has disappeared but the acorn has returned to the Elysee! Is this a bad omen? The tree of friendship planted by Macron and Trump has already disappeared."
"#Hypocrisy. Nothing remains of the meeting in the #USA between #Macron and #Trump. #Trump did not give up on ANYTHING — #Climate, #Iran, #InternationalCommerce, #SteelTariffs. We now learn that the tree planted by the leaders has disappeared. A useless visit. #Forgettable symbols."
"The only success of #Macron's #USA trip: planting a tree in the White House garden, will be sure to offset #Trump's withdrawal from the Paris climate deal. The oak has already been removed. Macron is the acorn of this grotesque farce."
"Can anyone imagine that a grain of sand could disappear from the #White House without the president knowing it, not to mention an entire tree! Is this a failure of LA Republicque en march's foreign policy?"
Others joked that it was "conspiracy theory time."
The Elysee seems have to resolved the mystery. A spokesperson told Huffington Post France that the tree was quarantined to prevent the spread of invasive diseases and insects. Naturally, social media users found this explanation funny as well.
"The tree gifted by Emmanuel Macron to Donald Trump has been quarantined. How droll."