The presidents of the United States, Joe Biden, and of France, Emmanuel Macron, met at the White House this Thursday (1st), to celebrate more than 200 years of relations between the United States and France. The leaders also concluded a renewed alliance in the fight against the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Biden is hosting Macron on the Frenchman’s first state visit since the US president took office in early 2021.
The US leader welcomed France as “our oldest ally, our unwavering partner in the cause of freedom” in the ceremony’s opening speech. Both leaders celebrated their countries’ alliance against Russian President Putin as defenders of democracy.
“France and the United States are confronting Vladimir Putin’s ambition to conquer and Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine, which has once again destroyed peace on the European continent,” Biden said. “France and the United States are once again upholding the democratic values and universal human rights that are at the heart of our two nations.”
Macron said the two nations needed to become brothers in arms once again after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and they had a shared responsibility to protect democracies on both sides of the ocean, which were rocked by doubts.
“Our new frontiers are there, and it is our shared responsibility to respond to it,” said the French president.
Biden and Macron smiled as they exchanged comments and seemed at ease with each other. Ahead of their talks, they said they would discuss high-tech trade and the indirect impact of the Russia-Ukraine war on economies.
Biden, 80, and Macron, 44, have had many meetings at international meetings, but this will be the longest time they will spend together. A lavish state dinner was planned, with 200 Maine lobsters brought in for the occasion.
Among the gifts Macron brought was a vinyl and CD version of the original soundtrack to Claude Lelouch’s 1966 film “Un Homme et une Femme,” the film the Bidens went to see at their first meeting, according to the Presidential Palace. Élysée, seat of the Presidency of France.
The Biden couple presented Macron with a custom mirror made from fallen wood from the White House grounds and a collection of custom vinyl records by great American musicians.
Macron is expected to raise French and European concerns about subsidies in Biden’s Reduction of Inflation Act (IRA), a $430 billion bill offering massive subsidies for US-made goods aimed at tackling the climate crisis.
European leaders say the legislative package signed by Biden in August is unfair to non-US companies and would deal a heavy blow to their economies as Europe grapples with the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February.
At a meeting on Wednesday with US lawmakers, Macron said the act was “super aggressive” towards European companies, a participant told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Macron told the French community in Washington that the cost of war in Ukraine was far greater in Europe than in the United States and that Europe was in danger of being left behind if subsidies diverted new investment. That could “fragment the West,” he said.
There was no sign that Biden was prepared to compromise.
Source: CNN Brasil
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