PM Jacinda Ardern said she would not expect to have been asked for New Zealand to join the new AUKUS security pact. Video / Pool
US President Joe Biden has labelled the trilateral handling of a submarine deal, which resulted in a major diplomatic fallout with France, as "clumsy".
Last month, Australia, the US and Britain formed a new partnership – AUKUS – which meant Canberra would scrap its $95 billion submarine deal with Parisin favour of nuclear technologies made available by London and Washington.
But France was blindsided by the deal having been advised on the eve of the AUKUS announcement. As a result, ambassadors were pulled from Canberra and Washington.
While Biden was able to smooth over relations, Morrison has faced more difficulties in repairing the relationship.
Speaking from the G20 leaders' summit in Rome, Biden sat aside Emmanuel Macron in their first face-to-face meeting since the deal was signed and admitted the situation could have been better handled.
"It was … clumsy … it was not done with a lot of grace," Biden said.
"I was under the impression that France had been informed long before that the deal was not coming through … That certain things had happened that hadn't happened."
Macron, when asked whether relationships with the US had been repaired, said "we clarified together what we had to clarify".
US President Joe Biden did not apologise to French President Emmanuel Macron but said the handling of AUKUS was clumsy. Photo / AP / Evan Vucci
It comes after Morrison finally spoke to Macron via phone on the cusp of his flying to Europe on Thursday.
While a readout of the call from Paris suggested Macron expected Australia to do more to rebuild their relationship, Canberra said the dialogue had been "productive".
According to the Elysee Palace, Macron told Morrison the decision had "broken" trust between the two nations.
"It is now up to the Australian government to propose tangible actions that embody the will of Australia's highest authorities to redefine the basis of our bilateral relationship," the readout said.
In contrast, a spokesperson for Morrison described the phone call as having been a "candid discussion".
On Friday, Australia's Defence Minister Peter Dutton suggested the reason France remained bitter about the deal was because of a looming election.
"Politicians and elections always make for an interesting mix. I think once we get through the next year, hopefully we can continue with steps to normalise the relationship," Dutton said.
Morrison, who has arrived in Rome, will come face-to-face with Macron at the G20 leaders summit, before they fly to Glasgow for the COP26 climate summit.
