US defends partnership with UK and Australia after the French blast 'brutal' decision
CNN
American officials are defending a new deal to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines after French officials expressed frustration over the agreement's effect on an existing multibillion-dollar defense deal.
The effort to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines -- a major step toward countering China as President Joe Biden works to build international backing for his approach to Beijing -- is part of a new trilateral partnership among the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom, dubbed "AUKUS."
European leaders have conveyed varying levels of dismay and feelings of exclusion over the deal. One European Union official indicated they were completely unaware of the agreement. And French officials -- angered that France now stands to lose the equivalent of $65 billion US dollars in an existing deal to provide Australia with conventional submarines -- say the US showed a "lack of coherence" by signing on to the agreement.