29 March, 2024
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Biden, Macron condemn Russia invasion

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US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron have presented a united front on Ukraine at the White House, and Mr Biden says he will talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin if he is willing to end the invasion.

Mr Biden has resisted talking to Mr Putin since the Russian leader launched the invasion in February, while Mr Macron has kept lines of communication with Mr Putin open.

“I’m prepared, if he’s willing to talk, [to] find out what he’s willing to do.” Mr Biden told a joint news conference with Mr Macron on Thursday (US time).

But Mr Biden said he would do this only in consultation with his NATO allies and would do nothing that would harm Ukrainian interests.

“I’m not going to do it on my own,” he said.

Mr Biden is playing host to Mr Macron for the first state visit since the US president took power in early 2021.

Besides pledging support for Ukraine, the two leaders sought ways to ease some economic tensions in Oval Office tensions.

Mr Biden pledged to Mr Macron to make changes to US legislation that passed the Congress this year that European nations fear will harm their economies.

Bills aimed at boosting US renewable energy and the semiconductor industry had “glitches” that could be addressed, mr Biden said.

“There are tweaks that we can make that can fundamentally make it easier for European countries to participate and or be on their own,” said Mr Biden, who said he and Mr Macron had a long discussion about the topic.

Mr Macron said “France did not come here to ask for some kind of exception for its economy. We came to share how the consequences of this regulation impact us.”

In a statement after their Oval Office talks, the leaders said they were committed to holding Russia to account “for widely documented atrocities and war crimes” in Ukraine.

They vowed to co-ordinate on their concerns regarding “China’s challenge to the rules-based international order, including respect for human rights and to work together with China on important global issues like climate change.”

Mr Macron raised French and European concerns about subsidies in Mr Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, a $US430 billion ($631 billion) bill that offers massive subsidies for US-made products and is aimed at addressing the climate crisis.

European leaders say the legislative package signed by Mr Biden in August is unfair to non-American companies and would be a serious blow to their economies as Europe deals with the fallout from Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine.

The Macrons arrived in Washington on Tuesday for his second state visit to the US since the French leader took office in 2017.

Mr Biden, 80, and Mr Macron, 44, have had many meetings at international gatherings but this was the most amount of time they have spent together.

A glittering state dinner was planned, with 200 Maine lobsters flown in for the occasion.

Mr Biden and his wife Jill greeted Mr Macron and his wife Brigitte with hugs, kisses and broad smiles as they celebrated more than 200 years of US-French relations.

The leaders and their wives, who dined together informally on Wednesday, took part in a South Lawn arrival ceremony that featured a military honour guard and Drum Corps and national anthems.

The post Biden, Macron condemn Russia invasion appeared first on The New Daily.

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