Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry said on Monday that President Joe Biden “literally had not been aware of what had transpired” in upsetting France over last month’s nuclear-powered submarine deal the United States and the United Kingdom struck with Australia.
“President Biden asked me about it, and I told him, and expressed…,” said Kerry in an interview with French cable channel BFMTV.
“You told Joe Biden that it was not the right…,” asked an interviewer.
“He asked me. He said, ‘what’s the situation?’ and I explained exactly, uh… He was he had not been aware of that, he literally, literally had not been aware of what had transpired,” said Kerry. “And I don’t want to go into the details of it, but suffice it to say, that that the president… My president is very committed to, um, strengthening the relationship and making sure that this is a small event of the past and moving on to the much more important future.”
The deal, known as AUKUS, seeks to allow Australia to protect itself in the Indo-Pacific from the threat posed by China. However, France was upset that Australia reneged on a $66 billion nuclear-powered submarine deal that the two sides had in 2016.
Watch above, via BFMTV.