Awkward.<p>Fundamentally, a buyer can walk away from buying something. There's a contract and it surely has contingencies for these cases, no need for drama.<p>That said, it does seem like the contract was broken in a really nasty way - apparently the French were told about it mere hours before the media announcement.<p>So the French are very angry, and possibly over-reacting, but only a little, it seems understandable. It makes sense for them to lash out at EU-wide negotiations with Australia.<p>But of course that affects countries that had nothing to do with the whole ordeal.<p>The cynic in me wonders if there is an element of some kind of political point-scoring by the British; Britain is on course to sign a deal with Australia. Some kind of, "see, we can do it and they can't".<p>Worth keeping in perspective that trade with Australia is a small slice of EU's trade overall.
Since the purpose of these weapons are to raise the cost on a Chinese attempt to control the pacific… ignoring the money, I wonder if it is in France’s best interest for Australia to have nuclear subs instead of diesel subs.
> "Keeping one's word is the condition of trust between democracies and between allies," he said. "So it is unthinkable to move forward on trade negotiations as if nothing had happened with a country in which we no longer trust."<p>Sad to see that Australia has taken the same path as Brexit UK (Northern Ireland anyone?) and trumpian USA (anything anyone?).