Washington tells London to placate Paris after sub snub

The US has urged Britain to follow its example and try to repair its relations with Paris in the wake of the row over France’s loss of its submarine contract with Australia.

- Patrick Wintour

Australia pulled out of the $66bn contract for 12 diesel-electric-powered submarines, signed in 2016, to opt instead for nuclear-powered submarines to be developed with America and the UK. The secretive and sudden cancellation of the contract has created a crisis of trust between Paris on the one hand and London, Canberra and Washington on the other.

But senior US diplomats including the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, spent two days in France and Brussels trying to repair relations after French leaders made clear they felt that the trio of nations had gone behind their back to form the new alliance.

Blinken met the French foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, in Paris on 5 October. The US’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, also met the French foreign policy adviser, Emmanuel Bonne. French President Emmanuel Macron is also due to hold a face to-face meeting with President Joe Biden at the G20 in Rome this month.