Macron and Biden to talk this week following diplomatic row

Why it matters: Attal characterized the diplomatic crisis as "strategic" rather than commercial and noted that the phone call comes at Biden's request.

The big picture: Senior French officials have accused the United States of a "stab in the back," following the announcement of a trilateral security pact between the U.S., U.K. and Australia to help Australia acquire nuclear submarines.

• French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian described it as a "crisis" that could threaten existing Western alliances.
• On Friday, France took the extraordinary step of recalling its ambassadors to the U.S. and Australia.

What they're saying: “What’s at stake in this case, in this crisis, is a strategic issue before being a commercial one,” Attal said.

• "The issue at stake here is the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific region, where part of our future and our relations with China are at stake. France is a country in the Indo-Pacific zone," Attal said, citing France's territories, French Polynesia and New Caledonia.

• "It is also an issue for Europe, in a context of tensions with China and the United States. We have to assert a strategic autonomy in the area and that is what it is going to be about," he said.
• "That is what we are going to talk about. That is what we will work on and move forward in the weeks and months to come."