France has recalled its ambassadors to the U.S. and Australia. Its foreign minister says Australia's cancellation of a contract to buy French conventional submarines in favor of nuclear-powered subs built with U.S. technology is “unacceptable behavior.”
Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in a written statement that the French decision, on request from President Emmanuel Macron, “is justified by the exceptional seriousness of the announcements” made by Australia and the United States.
Macron has not commented on the issue since President Joe Biden’s announcement of a strategic Indo-Pacific alliance with Australia and Britain, leading France to lose a nearly $100 billion deal to build diesel-electric submarines. French officials then decided to reach out to the U.S. administration “to ask what was going on,” he said. He added that discussions with Washington took place just two to three hours before Biden’s public announcement.
He also compared Biden’s move to those of his predecessor, Donald Trump, under Trump’s “America First” doctrine.
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