Trump says planned DC arch will be like a 'larger version' of Paris’ Arc de Triomphe

WASHINGTON, DC: One of his most ambitious Washington, DC, beautification projects, President Donald Trump said, will be a triumphal arch inspired by France’s iconic Arc de Triomphe, but bigger.

Speaking about plans for the nation’s capital, the 79-year-old described the planned monument as a larger and even more impressive version of the famous Paris landmark, which has been at the center of the French capital for nearly two centuries.

A monument inspired by Paris

The Arc de Triomphe is one of the world's most recognizable monuments, commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 to honor French military victories.

Standing roughly 164 feet tall at the western end of the Champs-Elysees, it has become a symbol of French national identity and state power. 

“It's going to be very much like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, except a larger version,” the president told his daughter-in-law Lara Trump. “More beautiful even.”

Trump's proposed 250-foot structure would draw direct inspiration from that design while serving as a centerpiece for his broader effort to reshape parts of Washington ahead of America's 250th anniversary celebrations.

According to him, the monument would be built near Arlington Memorial Bridge and would complete a project that had been envisioned for generations but never fully realized.

“It'll be built right by the Arlington Bridge, the Arlington Memorial Bridge, which is beautiful,” Trump shared. 

He said plans for a triumphal arch in that area date back nearly 200 years and were interrupted by the Civil War before construction could be completed.

“The circle's been there for almost 200 years, and they never got it built,” the Republican leader said. “We're going to get that built.”

Trump boasts about his Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool overhaul

The arch is one of several projects Trump has highlighted as part of an effort to beautify the nation's capital ahead of the US' semiquincentennial celebrations in 2026.

He also discussed renovations to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which he described as a long-neglected project plagued by leaks, algae growth, and cost overruns.

Trump claimed previous administrations spent hundreds of millions of dollars attempting repairs without success and said his team is completing improvements for a fraction of the projected cost.

“We're doing one that's really interesting, the Reflecting Pond. It was a disaster built in 1922,” Trump said. “President Obama spent $100 million and destroyed it further. And then Biden got involved and spent a lot of money and destroyed it. And I'm going to spend a tiny fraction of that money.”

“And it's going to take me a few weeks. Think of that. And it's going to be much better. I'm using swimming pool material. It's going to be blue, beautiful blue, which is what they always wanted,” the president boasted.