President Joe Biden in a phone call with French President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged ‘there could have been greater consultation’ with France on a submarine deal that has led to a diplomatic fallout.
‘Greater consultation would’ve been helpful,’ White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said during her briefing on Wednesday after the call.
Psaki added of the US and France: ‘There was an agreement that we wanted to move forward in our relationship.’
The US appeared to snub France when it entered a new security pact with Australia and the UK last week. The trilateral pact was aimed at providing Australia with the technology to build nuclear-powered submarines to counter China’s influence in the contested South China Sea.
However, the deal spurred a major diplomatic crisis between the US and longtime NATO ally France, which previously provided Australia with submarines.
A joint statement from Biden and Macron following the call stated: ‘The two leaders agreed that the situation would have benefited from open consultations among allies on matters of strategic interests to France and our European Partners. Biden conveyed his ongoing commitment in that regard.’
As a result of the pact, known as AUKUS, a multibillion-dollar deal France signed with Australia fell through, BBC reported. It left France fuming and the country had recalled its ambassador, Philippe Etienne, for consultations in Paris.
Before the phone call, French officials outlined expectations for the conversation, CNN reported.
An official at the Élysée, the French presidential office, said Macron expected Biden to offer clarification for how the deal came together without consultations with the French.
‘We expect our allies to recognize that the exchanges and consultations that should have been conducted were not, and that this poses a question of trust,’, the official said.
The official added that Macron sought a ‘solid process in a concrete time frame and at a high level (that) will allow us to create the conditions for restoring trust’, according to CNN.
In their call, which Psaki described as ‘friendly’ and ‘hopeful’, Biden and Macron agreed to meet at the end of October in Europe.
‘The two leaders have decided to open a process of in-depth consultations, aimed at creating the conditions for ensuring confidence and proposing concrete measures toward common objectives,’ the statement read.
According to Psaki, Biden is ‘hopeful that this was a step in returning to normal in a long, important abiding relationship.’
Macron also agreed to return his ambassador to Washington next week.
Biden showed support for ‘a stronger and more capable European defense, that contributes positively to transatlantic and global security and is complementary to NATO’, the statement read.
On Tuesday, Biden met in person with the prime ministers of both Australia and the UK. Macron was not on his schedule until they spoke Wednesday, and did not travel to the United Nations General Assembly in New York due to pandemic concerns that predated the AUKUS ruckus.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Tuesday that he would not speak with Macron during the UN this week, while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson appeared to make light of and dismiss France’s fury.
While outside the US Capitol in Washington, Johnson, in Franglish, said, ‘I just think it’s time for some of my dearest friends around the world to prenez un grip about this and donnez moi un break’.
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