Two hundred Maine lobsters and some 350 guests in tuxedos and long dresses, including astronaut Sophie Adenot, director Claude Lelouch, luxury sector billionaire Bernard Arnault, fashion popess Anna Wintour and actress Jennifer Garner, in a heavily decorated White House for Christmas. Emmanuel Macron’s state visit to Washington ended on Thursday 1er December, in apotheosis with a sumptuous dinner. A decorum that resembled a “happy ending” made of hugs and knowing smiles between two glasses of rosé champagne exchanged by the Biden and Macron spouses in gala outfits.
After forty-eight American hours conducted in a theatrical atmosphere, punctuated by one of those bloodshed that Emmanuel Macron has become accustomed to, the Washington episode has not yet known a real outcome. Nor great advances.
At the heart of the meeting between the French head of state and his American counterpart was the thorny subject of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), this vast plan of subsidies and tax breaks granted to American industrialists to accelerate the energy transition. A map “super aggressive”accused Emmanuel Macron, the day before the presidential feast, judging the initiative of 370 billion dollars (351 billion euros) capable of leading to cascading relocations on the Old Continent for the benefit of the United States. “The choices that are made are choices that will fragment the West,” had launched the Head of State, addressing the French nationals gathered at the embassy. A verbal outburst that did not shake the American side.
“The United States does not apologize, I do not apologize”
After the interview of a little less than two hours which was held Thursday in the Oval office between the two presidents, Joe Biden managed to appease the French spirits, without modifying his plan, intended, basically, to fight against Chinese competition. “The United States does not apologize, I do not apologize”he assumed, while acknowledging ” a problem “. “We had a very good discussion on the IRA”welcomed Emmanuel Macron.
The United States did not accede to the requests outlined by France. No exemption to the profits of certain European industries is currently envisaged, as the Elysée imagined before the trip. The United States simply promises to study the subject in order to arrive at a solution that suits its European allies.
A “awareness” sufficient, in the eyes of the French, to claim victory. And ensure that the United States “resynchronize” their agenda with that of the Europeans. “We didn’t come here simply to ask for ‘proofs of love’. Here we agreed on a strategy and to clarify what needed to be clarified”underlined Emmanuel Macron.
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