French to leverage ‘hurt feelings’ against US and Australia

The French will leverage their so-called hurt feelings with Washington and Canberra to get closer to the administration and call in some favours, according to Curtin University Professor Joe Siracusa. It comes as President of France Emmanuel Macron withdrew his ambassadors to Australia and the US amid the new AUKUS alliance and subsequent scrapping of Canberra's contract for French-built submarines. "He's using diplomacy here and diplomacy is all about leverage," Prof Siracusa said. "The French will leverage this so-called feeling they have with Washington ... they're going to try and leverage this to get a better position next time around, to get closer to the administration; they're going to look for some favours here. "And of course the French are going to use the so-called hurt feeling with Australia to get a better deal on the EU trade negotiations."

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