From Reuters:
“French envoy to return to
U.S. after fence-mending Biden-Macron call”
The U.S. and French presidents
moved to mend ties on Wednesday, with France agreeing to send its ambassador
back to Washington and the White House acknowledging it erred in brokering a
deal for Australia to buy U.S. instead of French submarines without consulting
Paris. In a joint statement issued after U.S. President Joe Biden and French
President Emmanuel Macron spoke by telephone for 30 minutes, the two leaders
agreed to launch in-depth consultations to rebuild trust, and to meet in Europe
at the end of October. They said Washington had committed to step up
"support to counter-terrorism operations in the Sahel conducted by
European states" which U.S. officials suggested meant a continuation of
logistical support rather than deploying U.S. special forces. Biden's call to
Macron was an attempt to mend fences after France accused the United States of
stabbing it in the back when Australia ditched a $40-billion contract for
conventional French submarines, and opted for nuclear-powered submarines to be
built with U.S. and British technology instead. read more
Outraged by the U.S., British and
Australian deal, France recalled its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra. "The
two leaders agreed that the situation would have benefited from open
consultations among allies on matters of strategic interest to France and our
European partners," the joint U.S. and French statement said. "President
Biden conveyed his ongoing commitment in that regard." White House
spokeswoman Jen Psaki described the call as "friendly" and sounded
hopeful about improving ties. "The president has had a friendly phone call
with the president of France where they agreed to meet in October and continue
close consultations and work together on a range of issues," she told
reporters. Asked if Biden apologized to Macron, she said: "He acknowledged
that there could have been greater consultation."
The U.S., Australian and British
security partnership was widely seen as designed to counter China's growing
assertiveness in the Pacific but critics said it undercut Biden's broader
effort to rally allies such as France to that cause. Biden administration
officials suggested the U.S. commitment to "reinforcing its support to
counter-terrorism operations in the Sahel" meant a continuation of
existing efforts. France has a 5.000 strong counter-terrorism force fighting
Islamist militants across the Sahel. It is reducing its contingent to
2,500-3,000, moving more assets to Niger, and encouraging other European
countries to provide special forces to work alongside local forces. The United
States provides logistical and intelligence support. Pentagon spokesman John
Kirby said the U.S. military would continue to support French operations, but
declined to speculate about potential increases or changes in U.S. assistance. "When
I saw the verb reinforce, what I took away was that we're going to stay
committed to that task," he told reporters.
^ At least Biden was able to fix
one of the many International Mistakes he has made. ^
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