It's a state visit that's also a chance to gauge superpower status. French President Emmanuel Macron heads to Washington at a time when Europeans are wondering aloud if Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has not made the EU even more dependent on the United States. Arming the Ukrainians has shown just how much NATO relies on its top contributor. Europe's scramble to replace Russian oil and gas also means turning to places like the US for imports of liquefied natural gas.
Then there is the long term. With Joe Biden’s $369 billion climate bill known as the Inflation Reduction Act, the US government is going all-in on energy transition, with a blueprint for subsidising green industry that's made in the USA. For now, the EU's plan remains mostly a wish list. Can Macron carve out exceptions for European companies who want in on the action stateside? Is it instead up to European governments to subsidise their own switch to green energy?
More broadly, how much have transatlantic relations changed since the French president's first White House state dinner back in 2017? And how much of that change has happened just in the past nine months?
Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain and Imen Mellaz.
