Macron asks to meet with Trudeau
Request follows row with U.S., U.K., Australia
OTTAWA • French President Emmanuel Macron wants face time with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, soon, and he hopes for more than passing chit-chat on the margins of upcoming summits.
Kareen Rispal, France’s ambassador to Canada, said that in addition to unfinished business the two countries started before the COVID-19 pandemic, Macron wants to hear Trudeau’s views on the alliance formed last month between the United States, Britain and Australia.
The new AUKUS alliance angered Macron and was seen by France as a stab in the back from trusted allies.
Trudeau has shrugged off Canada’s exclusion, saying the alliance is about selling Australia nuclear submarines — something that doesn’t interest Canada.
“It’s very vague. The only announcement about this club is the perspective of providing Australia with submarines,” Rispal said in a recent interview at the French Embassy in Ottawa. “So, to us, it’s pretty weak.” AUKUS was formed to help Australia deal with the fallout it has faced over China’s rising influence in the Indo-pacific. Helping Australia acquire a fleet of nuclear submarines was touted as the key feature, but it has also established greater co-operation in the defence industries of all three countries.
That angered France because its defence contractors also build nuclear submarines. Macron responded to the AUKUS announcement by pulling his ambassador out of Washington.
He has since returned to his post, while top Biden administration officials are working hard to heal hurt French feelings. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken travelled to Paris last week to meet Macron. Macron is working on a setting up a meeting with President Joe Biden.
Rispal said Macron wants to meet Trudeau in person as well because pandemic-inspired video conferencing is wearing thin.
“It’s very important to get together and have a meeting in Paris or Ottawa quite soon, and to discuss strategic matters. We are eager to strengthen our transatlantic link,” said Rispal. “We have relations of confidence and trust and friendship with Canada.”
A spokesman for Trudeau was unable to confirm any pending meeting.
“Prime Minister Trudeau looks forward to sitting down again with President Macron at the earliest opportunity,” spokesman Alex Wellstead said in an email.
Both countries are deeply seized with the growing challenges in the Indo-pacific, especially China’s growing military and political influence, Rispal said.
Macron visited Ottawa in June 2018 for a one-on-one with Trudeau before the G7 leaders’ summit in Charlevoix, Que.