Macron, Trump, and Biden: Shaping French Foreign Policy with the U.S. from 2016-2022

This thesis will examine French foreign policy towards the United States starting in 2016 through early 2022, considering the entirety of Emmanuel Macron’s presidency in France, and spanning both the Trump and Biden administrations in the United States. The first goal of this investigation is to understand the primary directions of French foreign policy towards the U.S. The second is to establish who in France is primarily responsible for determining foreign policy towards the U.S. The third is to examine whether France’s behavior changes when working with a Republican or Democrat administration within the U.S. This research will aid academia, as part of an effort to provide a better understanding of French foreign policy towards the U.S., while also providing U.S. decision makers with information on what drives French foreign policy and whether the ideology of the U.S. President matters.