FILE: In this photo from the January 11, 2021 archive, French President Emmanuel Macron is during the One Planet Summit at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France. World leaders breathed with audible relief that the United States, led by President Joe Biden, was rejoining the global effort to curb climate change, a cause its predecessor had shunned. (Ludovic Marin, Photo of the pool using AP, File)
FILE: In this photo from the January 11, 2021 archive, French President Emmanuel Macron is during the One Planet Summit at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France. World leaders breathed with audible relief that the United States, led by President Joe Biden, was rejoining the global effort to curb climate change, a cause its predecessor had shunned. (Ludovic Marin, Photo of the pool using AP, File)
PARIS (AP) – Following growing tensions in US-French relations under Donald Trump, President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed on Sunday to work together to fight the coronavirus and climate change.
His first conversation since Biden took office was aimed at correcting the weary ties between the historic allies.. Biden “highlighted his commitment to strengthening the transatlantic relationship” through NATO and the EU. Macron pledged its “determination to work alongside the US”
After four years of “America First” under Trump, the new president of the United States and the French leader fully see the importance of international cooperation in the fight against climate change and COVID-19 and in negotiations with the Iran.
But Macron’s office said the two men would not shy away from thorny issues. France is betting mostly on getting consistent global taxes on U.S. technology power plants like Google or Amazon, which led to an ongoing trade dispute with Washington under Trump. And the United States and the EU are imposing additional tariffs on subsidies to French-based aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus.
Macron stressed the importance of working together within the World Health Organization (which Trump abandoned) to help ensure the distribution of the vaccine to poor countries.
According to a White House statement, Biden agreed to work with France in China, the Middle East, Russia and the Sahel region of Africa, where France is leading an international military operation against Islamic extremists.
Despite very different political views, Macron and Trump developed a surprisingly beautiful relationship at first, including a White House reception. by the French leader and intimate dinner at the Eiffel Tower for the first two couples, which then worsened amid Trump’s increasingly mercurial and protectionist policies.