responded. but if you heard more, you tell me. reporter: i can tell you what was asked. we had the hepthelicopter ess a the president s car he travels in. they were asked if he felt the breach had been fixed with the relationship, what the state of the relationship currently is. it didn t appear he could hear us or if he could, keep in mind, kate, some of us are on this side of a group of hedges and some of us, the u.s. pool, the press pool that travels with the president, is about 15 feet away and they were asking questions as well. it appeared he was asked something about the pope. but he couldn t hear and eventually president macron decided to bring him inside. we do expect the two leaders may have once again be in front of cameras in a short time where they ll be in closer proximity to maybe hear more and let them expound a little bit in terms of the relationship and perhaps what they re looking for in this meeting, kate. absolutely, phil. wolf and kaitlan, let me bring you in
four years prior to president biden, questions about the u.s. overriding focus on china and where that leaves europe, questions about collective defense. and they have asked clearly for more counterterrorism assistance in africa. those are things that the united states could potentially put on the table as they seek to mend the rift between the two countries. it s definitely a possibility. it s been part of discussions i ve been told. from a substantive side of things, that will be the thing to keep an eye on coming out of this meeting in the next couple hours. it looks like as phil has been talking, seeing more people kind of gathering. looks like the arrival of president biden could be soon. phil, if you could, stick with me. i want to bring back in kaitlan kol collins and wolf blitzer as well. kaitlan, why is it significant thats this being held at the french embassy in rome? it s very significant because not only are they hosting it, they organized this, that s a
mr. president! how do you think the relationship is right now? how s the alliance right now? all right. there is the arrival of president biden meeting with emmanuel macron. can we go over to phil mattingly? phil is ready i think. hopefully he could hear more than we could. with the helicopters overhead, it was hard for us to hear what was asked and what the president how president biden
what the u.s. offers or is willing to provide to the french given their concerns over the last several months will be the most interesting take-away and most substantive take-away from this bilateral meeting long awaited. let s stick with this control room because i lost phil for just a second. i don t know if we lost his audio or if it was just mine. just flagging that for the control room. phil, on a basic level when it comes to these very important meetings of world leaders, there is this strategic nature and the necessary strategic relationship between longtime allies, and there s also the personality. you can t there really can t be more of a contrast between the biden personality when it comes to his approach to allies than his predecessor, with donald trump. and i m curious as to what
compared to that last one we saw at the g-7 summit. i ll just add at this point, kate, when it comes to china, yes, there was irritation on the part of french and other european allies as far as the withdrawal of u.s. troops from afghanistan. yes, the submarine deal caused a lot of pain in the u.s./french relationship. but right now there s a lot of difference in the way the u.s. is dealing with china and the european am lies, especially france and germany for that matter. they want to have this economic relationship with china, and there s a serious issue and a strain of sorts, and i m sure that issue will come up in this meeting between president macron and president biden as well. china, china, china. right now it s really important, especially when you see the tensions going on involving taiwan. there s a lot of concern the europeans have, the u.s. have, and they want to get their act together. absolutely. please stick with us, everyone. wolf, kaitlan, and phil are standing by