President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron spoke on the phone Wednesday.
The conversation followed displeasure from the French after the U.S. entered a deal to help Australia build nuclear-powered submarines.
Prior to the deal, Australia had an agreement with the French to obtain submarines.
According to a joint statement from Biden and Macron, “the two leaders agreed that the situation would have benefitted from open consultations among allies on matters of strategic interest to France and our European partners.”
The French ambassador, who was pulled from Washington, will return to the U.S. next week, the statement says.
The ambassador will be tasked with working with high-level U.S. officials “toward common objectives.”
Biden, who reaffirmed the strategic importance of the French in the Indo-Pacific region, will meet with Macon in October to “reach shared understandings and maintain momentum in this process.”
