Biden angers France, EU with new Australia, UK initiative

By MATTHEW LEE
AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden’s decision to form a strategic Indo-Pacific alliance with Australia and Britain has angered France and the European Union with a go-it-alone move they see as a return to the Trump era. The new security initiative — to counter China — appears to have brought Biden’s summer of love with Europe to an abrupt end. After promising European leaders that “America is back” and that multilateral diplomacy would guide U.S. foreign policy, Biden has alienated allies on key issues. The latest is AUKUS, a project that notably excludes France and the European Union. The French foreign minister expressed “total incomprehension” at the new action and said “it looks a lot like what Trump did.”