Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron close in on Vladimir Putin over Ukraine

Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron have pledged to close ranks in helping Ukraine and pressuring Russia’s Vladimir Putin to make peace.

US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron shake hands after a joint press conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Picture: AFP

Joe Biden and Emmanuel Macron have pledged to close ranks in helping Ukraine and pressuring Russia’s Vladimir Putin to make peace.

After long Oval Office talks the US and French presidents also signalled they had calmed the waters on a burgeoning trans-Atlantic trade dispute.

Addressing a joint press conference on the second day of Mr ­Macron’s rare state visit to Washington, both leaders emphasised the strength of their diplomatic and military alliance in facing Russia and a rising China.

“We reaffirm that France and the United States together, with all our NATO allies and the European Union and the G7, stand as strong as ever against Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine,” Mr Biden said.

The US President said he would be ready to meet the Russian President but only “if he is looking for a way to end the war”.

It was Mr Biden’s strongest suggestion so far that he would be prepared to sit down with Mr Putin, but Mr Macron said they both agreed “we will never urge the Ukrainians to make a compromise that will not be acceptable for them”.

A growing dispute over US subsidies for the emerging green technology economy had threatened to spoil Macron’s state visit – the first such formal occasion since Mr Biden took office almost two years ago. However, both leaders signalled they had managed at least to defuse the row following their one-hour-45-minute talks in the Oval Office.

The issue revolves around Mr Biden’s signature policy, the Inflation Reduction Act or IRA, which is set to pour billions of dollars into environmentally friendly industries, with strong backing for US-based manufacturers. EU governments have been crying foul, threatening to launch a trade war by subsidising their own green economy sector.

Mr Biden stressed that there would be “tweaks” so that European companies were not unfairly treated. “We’re going to continue to create manufacturing jobs in America but not at the expense of Europe,” he said.

On China, another area where Europe and the US have not ­always been entirely on the same page, the leaders said in a joint statement they “will continue to co-ordinate on our 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”.

A full military honour guard met Mr Macron outside the White House early on Thursday. Artillery fired off a 21-gun salute, sending puffs of white smoke into the clear, chilly December sky.

Standing on a red-carpeted ­podium with Mr Macron, Mr Biden said: “France is our oldest ally, our unwavering partner in freedom’s cause.”

And Mr Macron, referring to past wars where their troops fought side by side, as well as today’s struggle in Ukraine, said: “We need to become brothers in arms once more.”

The visit symbolised how Washington and Paris have buried last year’s bitter spat over the way Australia pulled out of a French submarine deal in favour of ­acquiring US nuclear subs instead.

The state visit climaxed late on Thursday (Friday AEDT) with the kind of banquet that has not been seen in the US capital since the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the capital’s typically busy schmoozing scene.

Grammy-award-winning American musician Jon Batiste performed at the dinner, which kicked off with butter-poached Maine lobster, paired with caviar, delicata squash raviolo and tarragon sauce.

Mr Macron earlier took time out to take a swipe at new Twitter boss Elon Musk, saying the world’s richest man was wrong to drop the fight against Covid disinformation as he slashes back content moderation on the platform.

With his country facing a fresh surge in coronavirus infections, Mr Macron said the subject of misleading Covid information should be addressed head-on, not swept under the rug.

“I think this is a big issue,” Mr Macron told American ABC. “What I push very much, for one, is exactly the opposite: more regulation.”

He said such protections have been implemented and enforced in France and “at the European level”.

Freedom of expression remains paramount, Mr Macron insisted, “but there is responsibilities and limits” to what can be written and disseminated.

“You cannot go into the streets and have a racist speech or anti-Semitic speech. You cannot put at risk the life of somebody else. Violence is never legitimate in democracy.”

Mr Macron’s concept of freedom of expression within acceptable limits is far from the libertarian approach of Mr Musk, a self-described “free speech ­absolutist” who has sacked many of the Twitter employees tasked with content moderation.

He has also begun to allow Twitter users banned from the platform for posting disinformation, such as former US president Donald Trump, to return.

And it emerged this week that Twitter has stopped enforcing a rule preventing users from sharing misleading information about Covid-19 and vaccine effectiveness.

AFP