French President Emmanuel Macron will travel to Washington in early December for the first state visit of President Joe Biden's tenure, an occasion marked by pomp and pageantry that is designed to celebrate relations between the United States and its closest allies.
The Dec. 1 visit will be the second U.S. state visit for Macron, who was first elected to lead his country in May 2017 and won a second term earlier this year. Macron had a state visit during the Trump years.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre announced the visit Monday, saying it will “underscore the deep and enduring relationship with France, our oldest ally.”
The invitation also is a sign that the relationship between Biden and Macron has come full circle. It hit rock bottom last year after the United States announced a deal to sell nuclear submarines to Australia. The decision by the U.S. undermined a deal that had been in place for France to sell diesel-powered submarines to Australia.
