United States
President Joe Biden met his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron on Friday ahead
of the Group of 20 (G20) Summit that is scheduled to begin on Saturday. The
heads of the two countries are said to have discussed the nuclear-powered
submarines deal that became a bone of contention between France and the United
States. Friday’s meeting was the first face-to-face interaction between Macron
and Biden since the US decided to sell submarines to Australia by apparently
undercutting an existing deal with France.

During the
interaction, the United States president called the submarine deal “clumsy” in
its execution adding that it “was not done with a lot of grace”. Biden was
nearly an hour late for his meeting with the French president at the French
Embassy, according to an NBC News report. The president’s delay was due to his
meeting with Pope Francis which ran into overtime.

Also Read | US, France edge closer to reconciliation after AUKUS disagreement

The United
States-Australia security alliance, often referred to as AUKUS, also includes
the United Kingdom. The alliance effectively cancelled a 2016 submarine deal between
Australia and France. The US’ decision to undercut the deal was met with severe
criticism from several European leaders, especially Macron, who had criticised
the alliance in the strongest terms.

Since then, the
United States has made several attempts to smooth things over with its oldest
ally. The Biden administration had thought of the deal with Australia as a way
of countering China, but the cracks in the relationship caused by the deal have
the potential for larger geopolitical ramifications.

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Earlier this
month, United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken had acknowledged that
the US could have “communicated better” on the AUKUS front adding that “we
sometimes tend to take for granted” the US’ relationship with France.

AUKUS gives
Australia the power to build nuclear-powered submarines for the first time in
its history. The implications of the deal were massive since the US had only
shared the technology with the UK previously. The pact, in its widest intent,
also allows for greater collaboration between US, UK and Australia and bolsters
the cyber and artificial intelligence capacities of all three nations.