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Despite yesterday’s conciliatory phone call between U.S. President Joe Biden and his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, the trans-Atlantic tensions over the nuclear-powered submarine deal between the U.S., the U.K. and Australia show little sign of abating. Last week’s announcement of the so-called AUKUS security partnership completely blindsided European leaders, particularly in France, which saw its $40 billion contract with Australia for diesel-powered subs canceled as a result.
After their call yesterday, Biden and Macron put out a joint statement afterward saying they “agreed that the situation would have benefited from open consultations among allies on matters of strategic interest to France and our European partners.” The two leaders also agreed to meet in person next month, and Macron will send back the French ambassador to Washington, whom he recalled last week.
Clearly, however, the Biden administration underestimated the severity of the diplomatic fallout the AUKUS deal would cause, both with France and within the European Union as a bloc. And it is only the latest move by the administration that has enraged Europeans, after initial expectations of a return to more amicable relations than was the case under Biden’s predecessor, Donald Trump.