President Joe Biden called the handling of a submarine deal with Australia that led to a diplomatic rift with France “clumsy.”
During his first face-to-face meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron since the deal was announced, Biden was asked if the relationship between the two countries was repaired.
“What happened was, to use an English phrase, what we did was clumsy,” Biden responded. “It was not done with a lot of grace. I was under the impression certain things had happened that hadn’t happened.”
He added, “But I want to make it clear, France is an extremely, extremely valued partner.”
Watch the video below:
"What happened was, to use an English phrase, what we did was clumsy," Pres. Biden says during meeting with French Pres. Macron about the recent U.S. snub of France for nuclear submarine technology in favor of Australia.
— ABC News (@ABC) October 29, 2021
"France is an extremely, extremely valued partner." pic.twitter.com/Fpyjg49o8l
In September, Biden announced that the U.S. would help Australia deploy nuclear-powered submarines. However, the deal torpedoed a previous Australian deal to buy French-built conventional submarines.
In response, France recalled its ambassador to the U.S. to signal its strong displeasure with the deal and being left in the dark about the plan, which it called “unacceptable behavior between allies and partners.”
During an interview with French outlet BFMTV, Climate Envoy John Kerry said, “[Biden] asked me. He said, ‘What’s the situation?’ And I explained. He had not been aware of that. He literally had not been aware of what had transpired.”
“And I don’t want to go into the details of it, but suffice it to say that the president, my president, is very committed to strengthening the relationship and making sure that this is a small event of the past and moving on to the much more important future,” he added.
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki denied that Biden was unaware the French were angered by the deal as she said, “Of course he was aware of the French being [upset].”
“I know John Kerry quite well. He, of course, was aware, the president, of the French being displeased about the deal with the Australians,” she added.
Finally, Psaki said, “The president and the former secretary are also good friends. He relies on his counsel as he does with many members of his national security team. But that certainly is not what he was intending to convey.”