IRIA News

U.S. President Joseph Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron held a meeting in Rome on Friday (October 29) to discuss climate, anti-terrorism in West Africa, and European defense issues

This was the first one-on-one meeting between the presidents of the United States and France after the diplomatic crisis in September over the AUKUS deal.

President Emmanuel Macron stated that this meeting will enable both countries to rebuild trust after a rift over the Indo-Pacific security agreement. This is the key to looking forward to the future, he said.

U.S. President Biden told French President Macron that his government’s handling of a security agreement with Australia and the UK had been “clumsy” and he seeks to turn the page during this meeting with the United States’ oldest ally.

President Biden said, “I think what happened was, to use an English phrase, what we did was clumsy. It was not done with a lot of grace… I was under the impression certain things had happened that hadn’t happened. And – but I want to make it clear: France is an extremely, extremely valued partner – extremely – and a power in and of itself.”

U.S. president informed his French counterpart that the AUKUS deal would provide Australia with higher-quality nuclear-powered boats and allow them to effectively contain Chinese advances in the Indo-Pacific region.

The U.S.-France relationship was strained by the AUKUS security alliance, which includes the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia. Under the AUKUS agreement, the U.S.-led submarine contract replaced France’s previous agreement to provide Australia with a diesel-powered submarine. Macron administration was infuriated for losing out more than $60 billion from the submarine deal, which resulted in France temporarily recalling its ambassador from Washington.

Soon after the AUKUS pact was announced, the Macron government said that France had been “stabbed from the back” by a close ally, as the agreement undermined the role of France and Europe on the global stage.

Since then, U.S. President Biden and France’s Macron held phone talks twice to resolve differences. The U.S. officials had also been working for several weeks to try to ease tensions and the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited France and held meetings with key government officials on October 4 in Paris.

The U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said the two leaders would “literally cover the waterfront of issues facing the U.S.-France alliance,” including counterterrorism in the Middle East, China, and trade and economic issues.

According to sources, U.S. President Biden and French President Macron also discussed the rise of China and the problems it has brought to democracies and the market economies. The two leaders also discussed Iran nuclear issue, as well as matters related to supply chain, steel and aluminum tariffs, and trade.

After the meeting, French President Macron told reporters that “We are building the trust again. Trust is like love. Declaration is good, but proof is better.” Macron added that his meeting with Biden was an essential step to “look to the future” as France and the U.S. work to mend fences, and the two allies would develop “stronger cooperation” to prevent a similar misunderstanding from happening again. “What really matters now is what we will do together in the coming weeks, the coming months, the coming years,” Macron said.

U.S. and France each issued a joint statement after the meeting, portraying themselves as global democratic partners to deal with a series of challenges including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate challenges, and to ensure the “indivisible security” of the NATO alliance.

Earlier this month, France’s Ambassador to Australia Jean-Pierre Sebo told the Associated Press that France is determined to inject “power” into Europe’s geopolitical strategy to deal with an increasingly aggressive China.

Senior French officials said that France hopes that Western allies would “divide up roles” instead of competing against one another, and the United States to become “allies as loyal and as available for their European partners as always”.