Wooing France: VP Kamala Harris meets Macron after sub spat
ABC News
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and French President Emmanuel Macron have agreed that France and the United States are ready to work together again, after a diplomatic drama surrounding a submarine deal that put the relationship at a historic low
PARIS -- U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed Wednesday that their countries are ready to work together again, after a diplomatic drama surrounding a submarine deal that put the relationship at a historic low.
Harris met with Macron in the evening at the Elysee presidential palace, as part of a weeks-long effort by Washington to mend relations with France, America’s oldest ally.
Harris’ four-day trip to Paris comes after President Joe Biden told Macron the U.S. had been “clumsy” in handling the submarine issue, during a meeting in Rome, Italy on Oct. 29. Biden didn’t formally apologize to Macron, but conceded the U.S. should not have caught its oldest ally by surprise. The secretly negotiated U.S.-British submarine deal with Australia led to a prior deal with France being scrapped.
Macron on Wednesday said he had had “a very fruitful meeting” with Biden. “We do share the view that we are at the beginning of a new era and our cooperation is absolutely critical for this one,” he said.