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AUCKUS: Biden admits of a ‘clumsy’ pact that rifted Paris and Washington

President Joe Biden of the United States of America met with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Friday at France’s Vatican Embassy in Rome ahead of the G20 summit of world leaders scheduled for this weekend. President Biden took on this opportunity to mend relations between the two nations that saw the worst of light in aftermath of AUCKUS deal. 

AUCKUS, the pact between the USA, Australia, and the UK was formed to tackle going presence of China in the Indo-Pacific region. Under the deal, the US offered to share its nuclear technology with Australia, which earlier was only shared with the UK. This led to the falling out of a $66 billion submarine deal between Australia and France to build six diesel-powered submarines. The AUCKUS security and technology pact left France blindsided, and feeling betrayed and humiliated at hands of Australia. The September deal also left sore relations between US and France. 

During the bilateral meeting that went over an hour at Villa Bonaparte (the French embassy to the Vatican), Biden inferred that he was under impression that Australia had already informed France of the submarine contract being canceled. “I was under the impression that France had been informed long before, that the [French] deal was not going through,” he said. This might also imply that either staff members at the White House failed to communicate about the submarine contract status or Australia had misled Washington about the status. “The answer is – I think what happened was to use an English phrase … clumsy, it was not done with a lot of grace,” Biden said. 

The meeting between the two leaders is said to be quite successful. Biden vowed to support France’s counter-terrorism operations in the Sahel. Macron and Biden have welcomed a bilateral clean energy partnership, affirmed the NATO capability, and strengthened cooperation in the Indo-Pacific region.

The Elysee said the French-US leaders’ meeting “set a very high level of ambition for relations between the EU and the US, with a strong emphasis on security and defense”. The reconciliation between Paris and Washington might have healed many sores of the former led by AUCKUS pact, but still, a lot is left to be mended. Like Macron said after the meeting, “Trust is like love: Declarations are good, but the proof is better.” 

Biden and Emmanuel Macron


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