President Joe Biden apologized to his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron last Friday for the U.S. nuclear submarine contract with Australia. That contract blindsided Paris and led Canberra to cancel a $66 billion diesel submarine deal with France. “What we did was clumsy,” Biden said. “It was not done with a lot of grace.”

That Biden feels he must apologize shows he is unfit to lead the free world. U.S. technology is better than French to meet Australia’s needs in countering China. That U.S. businesses get the boost rather than French companies should be cause for celebration at the White House. There is nothing wrong with capitalist competition. The broader problem, however, was not Biden’s apology. It was the way in which the White House allowed Macron’s manufactured grievance to undercut broader U.S. national security.