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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken will head to France next week, hoping to repair relationships after the fallout from the Australian submarine defense deal, the Associated Press reported.
France felt snubbed after its exclusion from the Austria-U.S.-U.K. agreement in the Indo-Pacific, known as AUKUS, which canceled the submarine deal France made with Australia. Now, the U.S. is trying to mend its relationship with the European Union.
According to the State Department, Blinken's goal is "further strengthening the vital U.S.-France relationship on a range of issues including security in the Indo-Pacific region."
"We recognize this will take time and it will take hard work," Karen Donfried, the top U.S. diplomat for Europe, told AP.
For more reporting from the Associated Press, see below.
Other matters to be discussed will include "the climate crisis, economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Transatlantic relationship, and working with our Allies and partners to address global challenges and opportunities," the department said.
Friday's announcement came a day after the White House announced that national security adviser Jake Sullivan had met with the French ambassador to the U.S. to try to restore trust between the countries. French officials have said AUKUS was a "stab in the back."
Sullivan met with French Ambassador Philippe Etienne on his return to Washington after having been recalled to Paris by French President Emmanuel Macron in an unprecedented display of anger to protest the exclusion of France and the European Union from AUKUS, which is aimed at countering China's growing influence in the Indo-Pacific.
Those discussions followed a September 22 phone call between President Joe Biden and Macron and a September 23 meeting between Blinken and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian in New York on the sidelines of the annual UN General Assembly. Biden and Macron are due to meet in Europe later this month.
The ostensible reason for Blinken's trip to France, which had been planned well before the AUKUS ruckus, is to co-chair a ministerial meeting of the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on Tuesday and Wednesday about climate change and security.
Former Secretary of State and current U.S. climate envoy John Kerry will also attend the Paris talks, which will take place just weeks before the next U.N.-backed international conference on climate, in Glasgow, Scotland.
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Lauren Giella is a Senior Reporter based in New York. She reports on Newsweek's rankings content, focusing on workplace culture, ... Read more