The White House released a statement Wednesday announcing they’ve reached a path forward with France despite recent tensions over a U.S. submarine deal with Australia.

Last week, France withdrew its ambassadors to both countries in protest for Australia’s purchase of nuclear submarines in a deal they made in secret with the U.S. and the United Kingdom. Australia previously had a deal to buy submarines from France, but the contract was scuttled because of the new arrangement, and that gave way to the French-American diplomatic rift. The incident was a source of underlying strife this week when President Joe Biden was in New York to give his first speech to the United Nations General Assembly.

Biden and Macron spoke today.

They “will meet in Europe at the end of October” (it’s unclear if that means at the G-20 or elsewhere) and Macron “has decided that the French Ambassador will return to Washington next week.” pic.twitter.com/y5oXiQa5pk

— Josh Wingrove (@josh_wingrove) September 22, 2021

On Wednesday, the White House announced that Biden spoke to French President Emmanuel Macron, and they “agreed that the situation would have benefitted from open consultations among allies on matters of strategic interest to France and our European partners.” The statement goes on to say the two leaders will meet next month in Europe to discuss these matters, but in the meantime, France says their ambassador to the U.S., Philippe Étienne, “will return to Washington next week.”

The post Detente: White House, France Agree to Future Meetings, Ambassador’s Return to the U.S. Amid Submarine Spat first appeared on Mediaite.

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