President Joe Biden is hoping the pomp and circumstance of his first White House state visit will compensate for problems his national security alliance with Australia and the United Kingdom created for French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
France is adamant there is no longer resentment over how the alliance scuttled its billion-dollar diesel-electric submarine deal with Australia. But Biden remains haunted by Macron’s skepticism that the United States really is “back” on the world stage.
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France is feted as the U.S.’s first ally, but one reason Macron is being honored with Biden’s first state visit is “to kiss and make up for AUKUS,” according to Council on Foreign Relations senior Europe fellow Matthias Matthijs, abbreviating the alliance.
“The broader reason is that the U.S. needs a stronger Europe if it’s going to pivot to Asia, and France is a big piece of that puzzle as it’s the only military power left in the E.U. now that the U.K. has left,” Matthijs told the Washington Examiner. “To keep the trans-Atlantic coalition against Russia together, France will be key in keeping everybody, including Germany, on board.”
Reelected last spring, Macron also secured the Elysee Palace until 2027, or the rest of Biden’s first term and “a big chunk” of a possible second term, Matthijs said.
“There are also a bunch of recent tensions between the EU and the U.S., including over trade and Europe’s complaint that [Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act] distorts competition and goes against WTO rule,” he added.
Center for Strategic and International Studies Europe, Russia, and Eurasia program visiting fellow Mathieu Droin disagreed the French state visit, which will conclude in a joint statement, was planned in response to AUKUS. Although conceding AUKUS was “a major blow” for relations, Droin argued France, as a “balancing power” that does not consider confrontation with China inevitable, has since “spearheaded efforts to raise interest among Europeans on the Indo-Pacific.” Macron has also indicated he will likely visit Beijing early next year.
“France is probably the most ‘pivot-proof’ country in Europe, due to a history of building its autonomy vis-a-vis the U.S. after WWII and with national programs for French military, industry or energy, including nuclear, under the guidance of Charles de Gaulle,” Droin said. “President Macron has been seeking to convince other Europeans that this ‘strategic autonomy’ or ‘sovereignty’ was necessary to make sure Europeans can take care of themselves if and when the U.S. ceases to do so.”
The AUKUS alliance, through which the U.S. and the U.K. agreed to help Australia build nuclear-powered submarines, blindsided and angered France. Macron even recalled French U.S. Ambassador Philippe Etienne over the lack of communication. The AUKUS announcement, which overshadowed the release of NATO’s Indo-Pacific strategy, undermined Biden’s reputation as a foreign policy expert. Former French U.S. Ambassador Gerard Araud underscored how Biden’s decisions had exacerbated fears he would revert to former President Donald Trump’s “America First” paradigm and be an unpredictable world leader.
In public remarks, Biden frequently refers to a conversation he had with Macron during last year’s G-7 meeting in the U.K., in which he declared, “America is back.”
“Macron looked at me. He said, ‘For how long?’ I seriously had to think about it,” Biden told donors last August in Maryland.
Trump also hosted Macron for his first state visit, according to American Enterprise Institute foreign policy senior fellow Dalibor Rohac.
“For all the talk about trans-Atlantic relations being in crisis during Trump years, there are as many urgent and contentious items on the agenda today that need to be addressed between Europeans and the United States, and France is indispensable in that process,” he said. “There’s Ukraine, there’re sales of U.S. natural gas to Europe, which Europeans deem too expensive, and there are discriminatory provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act that are hurting European electric car manufacturers.”
Rohac described Macron’s state visit and the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council meeting next week as “a real test” of whether he and Biden “can avoid a trade war and destructive beggar-thy-neighbor policies at a time of crisis.” Senior administration officials point to the U.S.-EU Task Force on the Inflation Reduction Act as another forum for concerns.
“Our core belief is that this isn’t a zero-sum game,” one aide said, “that the IRA grows the pie for clean energy investments writ large; it doesn’t split it up. And that this is an important step forward for both economies in terms of making this transition as a matter of climate, as well as a matter of economics.”
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Macron toured NASA headquarters on Wednesday with Vice President Kamala Harris before his bilateral meeting, press conference, and dinner with Biden at the White House on Thursday. First lady Jill Biden has her own schedule with French first lady Brigitte Macron on Thursday — namely, an education-focused event at the interactive museum Planet Word. Jon Batiste will perform at the dinner.
