Emmanuel Macron will torpedo the EU’s trade deal with Australia over submarine snub
SKULKING Emmanuel Macron will torpedo the EU's trade deal with Australia in a fit of pique over its submarine snub in favour of Britain and the US.
The pint-sized French president has vowed to sink more than three years of painstaking talks between Brussels and Canberra just before the finish line.
Brexit Britain has an agreement with Oz which removes billions of tariffs on exports and provides cheaper goodies from Down Under like wine and choccy.
Eurocrats aimed to follow suit by inking their own deal this year but those dreams have run aground amid French fury over the AUKUS alliance.
France's Europe Minister Clement Beaune said it's "unthinkable to move forward on trade negotiations as if nothing had happened".
In response the EU Commission signalled the next round of talks, scheduled for October, may now be canned.
Energy minister Greg Hands said the row shows the advantage of Britain taking back control of its own trade policy after Brexit.
He added: "It’s always worth thinking where we would be if we were still in the EU."
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Paris also faced a backlash within Europe over its move to sink the Oz deal.
Finnish MEP Laura Huhtasaari complained the bloc's other members will "all pay the price for the pride of France".
Australia ditched a £35bn contract with the French for diesel-electric submarines to buy nuclear powered ones from the US and Britain instead.
Mr Macron is also angry his country has been excluded from the AUKUS military pact which will boost tech sharing between the three allies.