france? how much solidarity is there? , . ., , france? how much solidarity is there? ,~ ., , , ., there? they certainly showed unity and there? they certainly showed unity and a there? they certainly showed unity and a united there? they certainly showed unity and a united front - there? they certainly showed unity and a united front in - unity and a united front in this state visit. western leaders know that is really important as the war in ukraine goes on and russian aggression continues. this was the first state visit president biden hosted, so he s clearly very keen to show france how important that relationship is. but it has had a few hick ups and taken some pretty big knocks. there was a big diplomatic clash recently when it came to a submarine deal recently, australia had a lucrative deal with france and bought submarines from the us instead. president macron was upset, he felt he had been blindsided by his ally the united states, and currently a very big challenge when
cartoonish in terms of we were all focused on the size of the parade or the weird bro man handshake. here there s much less of that kind of drama. the drama behind the scenes starting out of the gate with the conflict over a submarine deal that cost france billions of dollars. now you see an interesting bifurcation because, of course, europe, including france, is very happy that the biden administration is a clear supporter of nato, clearly embracing the transatlantic alliance. they ve been important allies, although slightly different positions on ukraine, but you have those economic tensions and this is where the rubber meets the road. in every international relationship both leaders have their own domestic considerations as well as shared international considerations. for biden this inflation reduction act, the key vote from joe manchin was hugely important for biden domestically, but it made it harder for non-u.s.
i think there was a question of substance. of course, there was the loss of that some $60 billion submarine deal to france. but there was the way in which it had been announced since europeans learned about it, from the press conference that president biden held with his british and australian counterparts. i think that really ruffled their feathers. the ambassador recalled since they ve patched things up and both sides we re told have taken measures to try to restore trust. it really had become an issue of trust. and yet, things ahead of that bilateral meeting we re going to be following today, not as simple as you might think. after that submarine deal, all the events in ukraine brought these transatlantic allies together, various g7 summits at nato specifically. behind the unity, the question of the consequences of the war. we in europe are facing a very chilly winter with extremely high energy prices.
its support, military support for ukraine, no end in sight for that war. but also, as we were discussing earlier, not a war but a growing standoff with china. the u.s., its european allies, with china in the economic sphere but also the national security sphere. that really the story behind that submarine deal where australia, in effect, joining the u.s. with u.s. submarine technology to help stand up to china s militarize in the east. they ve got a lot of very real and challenging issues to discuss. president biden describing that nuclear deal as handled sloppily. and president macron even going as far as saying the prime minister of australia at the time had lied to him. but other pressing issues, of course, as president biden is in a way trying to position macron as the new leader of europe,
tensions still stemming from a u.s.-australia submarine deal that blindsided the french and cost them a multibillion dollar defense contract. let s begin at the white house. cnn s m.j. lee is standing by on the south lawn. what s the president s focus for today? reporter: bianna, just to set the scene for you, we ve been outside on the south lawn of the white house where we ve been seeing a military proceeding play out. of course, the band is playing as well as we wait any minute for the french president and his spouse. the first lady of france to arrive for a big arrival ceremony. that s going to kick off the day. then the middle portion of the day, as you talked about, is sort of the working portion of the day where the two leaders are going to have a lengthy bilateral discussion on so many things at the top of their agenda including the war in ukraine as you said. challenges posed by countries like china, like iran, and the