France Recalls Ambassadors to U.S., Australia over Submarine Deal

wsj.com

13 points·siva7··5 comments

I wonder why France never offered Australia it's new Barracuda-class nuclear submarine. Did France not want to share? Was Australia too worried at the time about China's response to a nuclear-powered sub?

EDIT: Ah, it's explained somewhat at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/sep/17/austr... Still leaves many open questions, though.

My understanding is that Australia did not want nuclear subs, which is why Naval Group had to work on changing the design of the French nuclear subs to accommodate a diesel/electric engine.

Maybe Australia's views on this changed (fair enough), but I think the key to explain this new deal is American pressure.

The fact that France is recalling its ambassador to the US, even if only for 'consultations', which is, I believe, unprecedented from the US's first and oldest ally, is clearly them pointing the finger to the guy in charge (and they obviously understand that the UK is a sideshow, or a 'junior partner' as David Cameron would say).

Or maybe Austalia will end up using the smaller more efficient less labour-intensive faster to build UK submarines, and the UK is an essential partner.

The quick Axios analysis: https://www.axios.com/france-recalls-ambassadors-to-us-austr...

This whole thing is wild and proves that major trade deals are unequivocally what drive international politics.

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