Welcome to POLITICO’s West Wing Playbook, your guide to the people and power centers in the Biden administration. With help from Allie Bice. Send tips | Subscribe here| Email Eli | Email Lauren First, it was the imagery and the body language: French President EMMANUEL MACRON, a critical G-7 and NATO ally, reveling in his warm welcome to Beijing alongside China’s XI JINPING. Then, more concerningly, it was what he said. Flying home, Macron told our colleagues aboard his plane that the biggest risk for France was becoming “America’s followers” and, as it pertained to the matter of Taiwan, “get[ting] caught up in crises that are not ours.” Just as the bombshell interview was taking place, China was conducting large military exercises with ships and planes surrounding the self-ruled island, which Beijing claims as its territory but the U.S. has promised to arm and defend. We talked Thursday to IAN BREMMER, president of the Eurasia Group, about whether Macron’s comments are reason for concern about fissures within the transatlantic alliance and what lies ahead as the G-7 meets in Hiroshima, Japan next month. Our conversation has been lightly edited for space and clarity. There's been a lot of reaction in Europe to this, but not so much in Washington. Why? The right thing for the administration to do is underplay it. Why draw attention to a point of dissension when, generally speaking, the transatlantic relationship over the last year, certainly since the invasion [of Ukraine], has been very positive? But, substantively, how big of a problem is this for the White House? It's an actual problem. The fact is, after the Russian invasion, we have had 90% alignment with our allies. That's a big deal. But the U.S. is providing the lion's share of military support to Ukraine. And this is a war that matters a lot more to the Europeans. It's a direct national security threat to every frontline NATO state. And Macron's comparative indifference to that when he says we shouldn't care so much about fights that aren't ours — meaning: Taiwan — it's very narrow minded and it's immature, especially coming off a trip to China. The reason the G-7 is more aligned is because they see the connectedness and not because the Americans are telling them what to do. It's not "hegemony" — it's because there is real concern that the rule of law is not being upheld. The French are acting as if there's no threat of the alliance coming apart and there is. You said the other day the U.S.-France relationship is the worst within the G-7. It sure didn't seem like that a few months ago during the State visit. That's just in relation to the others within what's now a very tight G-7. In that context, there just is a lack of trust between Biden and Macron, and that's a problem. And not just because of Marcon's free-lancing? Right. The U.S. really mishandled Afghanistan, and decided to pull out largely unilaterally. They did not have a team approach. The AUKUS decision [a trilateral pact under which Australia, which had a naval submarine contract with France, agreed to buy new nuclear submarines built with U.S. technology] was very poorly mishandled diplomatically by the U.S.. The French found out on CNN. That's unacceptable as an ally. So it's not like Macron is acting in a vacuum here. How much does his strident rhetoric have to do with what's going on in France? There is a level of anti-Americanism in France that has been long term and persistent. So there are easy points to be scored in France by Macron saying Europe needs to be a superpower. But if Macron wants to assert France as a power, these comments seem to mainly underscore that it isn't. The U.S. is objectively a lot more powerful than France. And France making these statements after pronounced failures in Lebanon and across Francophone Africa and with Putin diplomatically [note: he’s referencing Macron’s initial efforts to persuade the Russian leader to not invade Ukraine and then, last year, to urge him to find a diplomatic off-ramp] — Macron should have a little more humility about the gaps between the promises he makes and what he's actually capable of executing. He has tried, it seems, to explain these comments more, to suggest that a stronger, more autonomous Europe would be good for the U.S. Is that largely a reaction to blowback from Washington or from within the Élysée? The latter. A lot of his diplomats weren't happy with it. They had a good trip to China. They had a lot to accomplish. And then Macron just put his foot in it. The reality is he has a lot of vanity and he talks too much. I was recently talking to a senior French diplomat and he said, tactfully, “defending a talkative president is not always easy.” MESSAGE US — Are you EMMANUEL MACRON? We want to hear from you. And we’ll keep you anonymous! Email us at westwingtips@politico.com. Did someone forward this email to you? Subscribe here!
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