Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken travels to the French Republic April 1, 2024, to further strengthen our bilateral relationship and emphasize our unified support for Ukraine. While in France Secretary Blinken will meet French President Macron, Foreign Minister Séjourné, and other key French officials to discuss international efforts to support Ukraine.
Our cooperation to support Ukraine is rooted in the bedrock principles that the United States and France have shared since the very beginning, including respect for national sovereignty and self-determination. France has a central role to play in ending Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine and finding a solution to the Israel-Hamas conflict. Our cooperation and coordination is vital and we commend France’s leadership.
The Secretary will thank President Macron for France’s steadfast support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s aggression, hosting the 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics, and recognize the importance of this year’s commemorations for the 80th anniversary of the Liberation of France.
The United States and the French Republic: Allies, Partners, and Friends
The United States enjoys an enduring, strong bilateral relationship with the French Republic as NATO Allies, partners, and friends.
Our relationship with the French Republic is based on our joint commitment to shared democratic values that are essential to mutual security, stability, and prosperity.
The United States and France work closely on a full range of issues around the world, including in the Indo-Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans, Central Asia, and Latin America. We collaborate to combat terrorism and stem the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
France is one of NATO’s top troop contributors. France supports NATO modernization efforts and is a leading contributor to the NATO Response Force. France also closely collaborates with the United States on international public health threats like Ebola.
France is the United States’ fifth-largest foreign investor, with $360 billion in foreign direct investment at the end of 2022. More than 5,300 French firms employ more than 741,000 U.S. workers, making French companies the fifth-largest foreign employer in our country.
The United States is the top destination for French investment and the United States is the largest foreign investor in France. The United States and France have a bilateral convention on investment and a bilateral tax treaty addressing, among other things, double taxation and tax evasion.
U.S. exports to France include industrial chemicals, aircraft and engines, electronic components, telecommunications, computer software, computers and peripherals, analytical and scientific instrumentation, medical instruments and supplies, and broadcasting equipment.
The United States and France recognize the climate crisis and nature loss as the existential challenge of our time and will continue to work together to galvanize the global action needed to address it. The United States and France work together to ensure better ocean protection in view of the next UN Ocean Conference that will be held in France in 2025. The United States and France advance their climate and energy cooperation through the U.S.-France Clean Energy Partnership launched in 2022, including cooperation on civil nuclear energy, which has a key role to play in reducing global CO2 emissions.
The United States and France are strengthening their alliance across all sectors of space cooperation, a more than 60-year relationship in space, in civil, commercial, and national security space activities. This cooperation includes the U.S.-France Comprehensive Dialogue on Space, announced by U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and French President Emmanuel Macron in November 2021, to deepen bilateral coordination.
The United States and France: Standing Together in Support of Ukraine
France and the United States stand united in condemnation of Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine, just as we stand united in our support of the people of Ukraine as they fight to defend their homes, their culture, and their future.
The United States and France remain steadfast in imposing consequences on Russia, including through sanctions and export controls, and we will continue to address the wider effects of the war, including working with the international community to build greater resiliency to food and energy disruptions.
French leadership among EU member states is crucial at every stage of this conflict, and France continues to lead, providing substantial military/defense and humanitarian aid to Ukraine and supporting efforts to hold Russian forces to account for their atrocities and war crimes.
The United States appreciates France’s continued support for the roughly 70,000 refugees from Ukraine currently hosted in France.
