Emmanuel Macron and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken have held talks in Paris, the French leader’s first meeting with a US official since the AUKUS furore plunged the two countries’ relations into crisis.
The development on Tuesday came as US President Joe Biden’s administration moves to repair the damage caused to ties by excluding France from AUKUS, a new security initiative involving the US, United Kingdom and Australia.
Announced last month, the deal saw Australia eschew a multibillion-dollar contract to buy French-made submarines in favour of a deal for US and UK produced nuclear submarines, angering Paris.
Blinken was in the French capital for a meeting of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and told reporters he would address the AUKUS imbroglio during a meeting later on Tuesday with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian.
A State Department official told reporters that Blinken’s previously unannounced one-on-one meeting with Macron lasted about 40 minutes.
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