PARIS (Reuters) – France is in a “crisis” with the United States and Australia after Canberra’s cancellation of a multi-billion dollar submarine order led Paris to recall envoys from its allies, French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said. France said on Friday it was recalling its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra over a trilateral security deal also involving Britain which sank the submarine contract with Paris. “There has been duplicity, contempt and lies – you can’t play that way in an alliance,” he added. Canberra announced on Thursday it would scrap its 2016 deal with France’s Naval Group to build a fleet of conventional submarines and instead build at least eight nuclear-powered ones with U.S. and British technology after striking a trilateral security pact. Le Drian said French President Emmanuel Macron had not spoken with U.S. President Joe Biden about the submarine issue.

Source: MetroXpress September 18, 2021 18:45 UTC