Even before talking to Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron broke the ice, leaving behind a string of broken glass. Barely arrived in Washington, the head of state tried, Wednesday, November 30, to install a balance of power. A way for him to gain respect from his American counterpart on the hot topic of the moment.
During a lunch with elected members of Congress, the French president forgot all diplomatic restraint by evoking the “Inflation Reduction Act” (IRA), this massive investment plan of some 370 billion dollars (355 billion euros ) aimed at supporting American industries to accelerate the energy transition. It is, he said, an initiative « super agressive »as Agence France-Presse reported. “The choices that are made are choices that will fragment the West”insisted a few hours later the Head of State, addressing the nationals at the French Embassy, while emphasizing “the need to move forward hand in hand” with the United States.
The statement, described as “constructive” by Emmanuel Macron’s teams, testifies to French and European annoyance with American legislation, a political success for President Biden but considered on this side of the Atlantic as protectionist. The IRA penalizes European imports and carries the threat of increased deindustrialization of the Old Continent. “The danger is that the United States looks above all to the United States. And then their rivalry with China and that France and Europe become an adjustment variable”underlined Emmanuel Macron at the embassy.
A skid in an often tense Franco-American relationship? “The president assumes all his words. There are no surprises. You know the way of the head of state. He did not come to Washington to celebrate the alliance, but to talk about the real issues., assured one of Emmanuel Macron’s advisers. The Elysée highlights the risk of “distortion”while it is the Europeans, it is believed in Paris, who pay the heaviest price “economic and psychological” of the return of war to the Old Continent, almost ten months after the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. For the entourage of the President of the Republic, the United States has no interest in seeing Europe come out bloodless, “impoverished” et “deindustrialized”of this conflict.
The offensive seemed expected by the Biden administration
This raise in tone a few hours before the private dinner between the French president and the American head of state, in the company of their respective wives, Jill and Brigitte, could have caused a diplomatic incident in Washington.
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