Stab in the back: France fumes as Oz scraps deal

France accused US President Joe Biden of stabbing it in the back and acting like his predecessor Trump after Paris was pushed aside from a lucrative defence deal that it had signed with Australia for submarines.

The US, Britain and Australia said they would establish a security partnership for the Indopacific that will help Australia acquire US nuclear-powered submarines and scrap the $40 billion French-designed submarine deal. “This brutal, unilateral and unpredictable decision reminds me a lot of what Mr Trump used to do," Foreign Minister Jean-yves Le Drian told franceinfo radio. "I am angry and bitter. This isn't done between allies.” In 2016, Australia had selected French shipbuilder Naval Group to build a new submarine fleet worth $40 billion to replace its more than two-decades-old Collins submarines.