New York A meeting between the United States, France, Great Britain and Germany scheduled on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly has been canceled, according to State Department employees. As the insider announced at a press briefing with reporters in New York on Tuesday (local time), the meeting originally scheduled for Wednesday cannot take place due to scheduling reasons. There was no comment on whether the cancellation was related to the current diplomatic tensions between France and the United States. The meeting was one of three scheduled for which US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian will meet for the first time since Washington and Paris entered a diplomatic crisis last week.
Last Thursday, Australia, Britain and the United States announced an Indo-Pacific security agreement. Among other things, the agreement stipulates that Australia will build nuclear-powered submarines using technology from the two partners. This means that the $40 billion delivery of conventional submarines agreed with French shipping company Naval in 2016 is outdated.
The European Union has already delayed preparations for trade and technology talks with the United States in protest of the submarine trade. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called the deal “unacceptable”. Foreign Minister Heiko Maas sided with France and warned of longstanding difficulties in transatlantic relations.
more: The submarine dispute turns into a crisis across the Atlantic
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