“This is not the only global commitment

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Philippe Étienne, French ambassador to the United States and host of the party, said on Thursday that he had been informed of the agreement through press articles, followed by a call from Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser by Mr. Biden.

A senior US official said the Biden administration had made efforts to inform the French government of the president’s announcement earlier Wednesday morning, but was unable to schedule talks with his French counterparts before the publication of information online.

The indignation of MM. Étienne and Le Drian reflected the fact that France had its own agreement with Australia, concluded in 2016, for conventional submarines that were less technologically sophisticated. That $ 66 billion deal is now gone, but a tough legal battle for the contract seems inevitable.

“A knife in the back,” Le Drian said of the Australian move, noting job function email database that Australia rejected a strategic partnership agreement involving “a lot of technology transfers and a 50-year contract.”

US officials of withholding information about the deal despite repeated attempts by French diplomats, who suspected something was underway, to find out more.

Mr Étienne, one of France’s most experienced diplomats, admitted in an interview on Thursday that there had been discussions with the Australians over increasing the price of the submarines that France was supposed to deliver to the Australia – which were not nuclear powered, even though France has its own fleet of nuclear powered submarines.