White House To Serve American Cheese, Lobster at State Dinner for France, With Big Issues Also on Menu

Maine lobster poached in butter, beef with shallot marmalade, and an American cheese trio will be served when the French president, Emmanuel Macron, takes his seat as the guest of honor Thursday at a White House state dinner. The theme for the dinner will be red, white, and blue, but the talk was green at a lunch Wednesday with Congress members, with Mr. Macron criticizing President Biden’s climate policies as “super aggressive to our business people.”Mr. Macron arrived at Washington Tuesday for the first state visit of the Biden presidency — a revival of diplomatic pageantry that had been put on hold because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Dinner formalities aside, the leaders have a long agenda for their Thursday meeting at the White House, including Iran’s nuclear program, China’s increasing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region, and growing concerns about security and stability in Africa’s Sahel region, according to U.S. and French officials.Front and center during their Oval Office meeting will be Russia’s war in Ukraine, as Messrs. Biden and Macron work to maintain economic and military support for Kyiv as it tries to repel Russian forces.The visit also comes as both Washington and Paris are keeping an eye on China after protests broke out last weekend in several mainland cities and Hong Kong over Beijing’s “zero-Covid” strategy. At a red carpet arrival ceremony after landing in Washington on Tuesday evening, Mr. Macron ignored a shouted question from a reporter about whether he and Mr. Biden planned to discuss the China protests — the biggest show of public dissent in that country in decades. Mr. Macron’s efforts to keep Europe united will be tested by the mounting costs of supporting Ukraine in the nine-month war and as Europe battles rising energy prices that threaten to derail the post-pandemic economic recovery.The White House national security council spokesman, John Kirby, on Monday described Mr. Macron as the “dynamic leader” of America’s oldest ally while explaining Mr. Biden’s decision to honor the French president with the first state visit of his presidency.“If you look at what’s going on in Ukraine, look at what’s going on in the Indo Pacific and the tensions with China, France is really at the center of all those things,” Mr. Kirby said. “And so the president felt that this was exactly the right and the most appropriate country to start with for state visits.”Mr. Macron was also President Trump’s first pick as the first foreign leader to be honored with a state visit during his term. The 2018 state visit included a jaunt by the two leaders to Mount Vernon, the Virginia estate of George Washington, America’s founding president.A French government spokesman, Olivier Veran, said Tuesday that Mr. Macron’s second state visit is “a strong symbol of the partnership between France and the United States.” It shows “very strong ties” between the countries and comes at a moment where the world is faced with important international issues, including the war in Ukraine, food security, the climate, and energy, he said.Mr. Veran added that there is a need for “re-synchronizing” the agendas of the European Union and the United States to face crises, especially on energy and rising prices.Mr. Macron had a packed day of meetings and appearances in and around Washington on Wednesday — including a visit to NASA headquarters with Vice President Harris and talks with Biden administration officials on nuclear energy.On Thursday, Mr. Macron will have his private meeting with Mr. Biden followed by a joint news conference and visits to the state department and Capitol Hill before he and his wife, Brigitte Macron, are feted at the state dinner. The White House prepared for days for Mr. Macron’s arrival, setting up a large tent for the festivities on the South Lawn and decorating light poles bordering the White House complex with French flags.Mr. Macron will head to New Orleans on Friday, where he is to announce plans to expand programming to support French-language education in U.S. schools, according to French officials.For all of that, there are still areas of tension in the U.S.-French relationship.Mr. Biden has steered clear of embracing Mr. Macron’s calls on Ukraine to resume peace talks with Russia, something Mr. Biden has repeatedly said is a decision solely in the hands of Ukraine’s leadership.Perhaps more pressing are differences that French and other European Union leaders have raised about Mr. Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, sweeping legislation passed in August that includes historic spending on climate and energy initiatives. Mr. Macron and other leaders have been rankled by a provision in the bill that provides tax credits to consumers who buy electric vehicles manufactured in North America.The French president, in making his case against the subsidies, will underscore that it’s crucial for “Europe, like the U.S., to come out stronger … not weaker” as the world emerges from the tumult of the pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to a senior French government official who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity to preview private talks.Mr. Macron earlier this month said the subsidies could upend the “level playing field” on trade with the EU and called aspects of the Biden legislation “unfriendly.”The White House, meanwhile, plans to counter that the legislation goes a long way in helping the U.S. meet global efforts to curb climate change. The president and aides will also impress on the French that the legislation will also create new opportunities for French companies and others in Europe, according to a senior Biden administration official who briefed reporters on the condition of anonymity to preview the talks.

White House To Serve American Cheese, Lobster at State Dinner for France, With Big Issues Also on Menu

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