French President Emmanuel Macron will arrive in Washington DC later this evening ahead of the first state visit of Biden's tenure in the Oval Office.

• Macron’s visit comes amid strain in the Franco-US relationship over the establishment of AUKUS which prompted the scrapping of a major military contract with Australia and a simmering trade dispute between the United States and the European Union over the electric vehicle subsidies provided by the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
• US Trade Rep Katherine Tai and French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire yesterday agreed to “deepen bilateral understanding of the [IRA] legislation.”
• Bloomberg: “The Inflation Reduction Act.... provoked concerns in Europe over the cumulative impact of some measures on industry, including the threat of luring away investment.”
• Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz found rare common ground over opposition to the IRA with Macron pushing a “Buy European Act” to counter the US subsidies.
• White House National Security Council Spokesperson, John Kirby yesterday confirmed that IRA will be on the agenda: “We look forward to having that discussion with our French counterparts,” so the administration can “better understand the concerns of our European friends.”