French Ambassador says U.S. and France are "rebuilding trust" - "The Takeout"
CBSN
Ahead of President Biden's meeting in Rome with French President Emmanuel Macron this week, French Ambassador to the United States Philippe Etienne said the countries "are rebuilding trust" after a military submarine contract spat sank French-U.S. relations to their lowest point in recent memory.
After announcing a new security program between the U.S., U.K., and Australian government known as AUKUS, Australia nullified a multibillion-dollar submarine agreement with France and agreed to buy nuclear-powered submarines built with U.S. technology. In response, Macron recalled France's ambassadors to both the U.S. and Australia for what Etienne called "consultations" on how to move forward with the longtime allies.
"It was not only about the fact of recalling me, but also of thinking of thinking about what had happened, but also and now more importantly, about how we could rebuild the relationship[s]," Etienne told Chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett for this week's episode of The Takeout. "We had to look at the way ahead and not to remain on what had happened."
The Consumer Federal Protection Bureau last week launched an inquiry into what the agency is calling "junk fees in mortgage closing costs." These additional fees, involving home appraisal, title insurance and other services, have spiked in recent years and can add thousands of dollars to the final cost of buying a home.
Retired Maj. Gen. William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic "Earthrise" photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was 90.