French delight as Emmanuel Macron will be first world leader to visit Biden in US
President Macron is set to become the first world leader to make a state visit to the US during the Biden presidency, to the delight of Paris. Following the announcement on Tuesday, some commentators claimed that France was being “pampered” by the US, while others drew a contrast with what they described as Britain’s loss of prestige on the global stage following Brexit.
The visit marks a return to normal diplomatic activities for President Biden, who limited meetings with foreign leaders during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Laurence Nardon, a researcher at the French Institute of International Relations, said Biden’s invitation to Macron was a further signal of the recovery in Franco-American relations following a spat last year caused by the announcement that the US and the UK were to build Australian nuclear submarines.
Nardon said the US president was also likely to be hoping to avoid divisions in the West over Ukraine, given that Macron has often appeared more willing to compromise with Russia and has continued to hold telephone conversations with President Putin.
She said there was no need for the US to go out of their way to keep the UK on the same wavelength over Ukraine “because you [the UK] are doing the job anyway.”
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