AMN
French President Emmanuel Macron has said that Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison lied to him about a scrapped submarine deal. Mr Macron was furious after Australia cancelled a 37 -billion dollar (£27bn) deal to build 12 conventional submarines and instead negotiated a new defence pact with the US and the UK – the so-called Aukus.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian denounced the decision as a stab in the back and Paris temporarily recalled its Ambassadors to Australia and the US. Speaking after Mr Macron’s comments, Mr Morrison told reporters he had not lied to the President and that he had previously explained to him that conventional submarines would no longer meet Australia’s defence needs.
The pair’s meeting at the G-20 summit was their first since the row erupted in September and rebuilding the trust and relationship between the two nations had already begun.