France rallies EU as trust in US, UK and Australia wanes

Brussels: France on Tuesday urged its European Union partners to consider whether to delay negotiations on the bloc's future trade agreement with Australia over what Paris says is a lack of trust sparked by a major defense deal between the U.S., Australia and Britain.

French European Affairs Minister Clement Beaune said he would raise the trade pact and the security implications of the deal, known as AUKUS, at a meeting with his counterparts in Brussels, and that France would ensure that it is discussed at EU summits and ministerial meetings next month.

The Indo-Pacific security pact will see Australia cancel a multi-billion-dollar contract to buy diesel-electric French submarines and acquire U.S. nuclear-powered vessels instead.

The French government is suggesting it was betrayed by the deal, which comes in the run-up to elections in France in April.

It's a matter of trust, Beaune told reporters.