Let the trade wars begin. Just a week ago, French President Emmanuel Macron suggested European companies put a pause on investment in the United States given the uncertainty around the global economy.
With tit-for-tat tariffs swirling, our longtime allies are perplexed. It comes at a time when our European allies have been strengthening their positions in the Pacific because of the threats from China, Russia and North Korea.
The new Consul General of France in San Francisco Florian Cardinaux took his first trip to Hawaiʻi this week and met with with military brass at the Indo-Pacific Command, as well as the governor and key officials at the East-West Center, Pacific Forum, and the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies.
He said the fundamentals of the France-U.S. relationship remain very strong.
"We are very much attached to our values, and we have a lot of things to do together. We might have our differences. You know, there is a formula which is very often used in my country, which is 'We are allies, but we are not aligned,'" he told HPR. "What matters is to remain allies and to keep defending the same values and the same vision of the world."
This interview aired on The Conversation on April 9, 2025. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m.
