France, U.S. Relations Moving in Good Direction, Minister Says

(Bloomberg) -- France’s relationship with the U.S. is moving in a good direction and the European nation sees goodwill from Washington to rebuild ties, Paris’s top trade official said. 

Australia’s decision to cancel a $66 billion submarine contract with France in favor of a new security pact and nuclear-powered submarine deal with the U.S. and U.K. tested Washington’s relationship with Paris. 

Vice President Kamala Harris, who took a five-day trip to Paris last week in part to heal the rift between the U.S. and its oldest ally, didn’t discuss the pact in her meeting with President Emmanuel Macron.

“The main thing is to build trust, and in France trusts need to be rebuilt,” Franck Riester, France’s delegate minister for foreign trade, said in an interview with Lisa Abramowicz, Jonathan Ferro and Tom Keene on Bloomberg Television Tuesday. “I’m very confident because I feel the will of the administration.”

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