Five burning issues on the agenda as Biden welcomes Macron to the US
Roll out the red carpet, Emmanuel Macron has arrived in the United States.
The three-day trip is a feather in the cap of France's president, who becomes the first European leader his US counterpart Joe Biden has invited for a state visit.
Planned months ago, the itinerary includes Oval Office talks, a fancy dinner and a major news conference.
It comes amid a turbulent time in world politics, so what will be on the agenda when Macron and Biden sit down to talk?
Things between Macron and Biden got off to a bumpy start.
In September 2021, Washington announced the AUKUS alliance with Australia and the United Kingdom, depriving Paris of a mega, multi-billion euro contract to supply Canberra with submarines.
But Ukraine changed all this.
Russia's invasion of its eastern neighbour turned the relationship around, with Macron emerging as one of the US's principal European allies.
"Like many things in international affairs and politics, there was a watershed moment," Dr Downing a fellow at the LSE's European Insitute, specialising in French politics and security, told Euronews.
"That's the 24th of February".
Both leaders will discuss financial and military support for Kyiv, but a key issue will be how the conflict ends.
While Biden faces growing resistance from Republicans about the "blank cheque" given to Ukraine, Europe's mettle is being tested by energy price rises and a cost of living crisis.
However, according to Dr Downing, the French premier is "not feeling the pressure quite as acutely as other European leaders since he can't run for president again".
"Macron doesn't face the same incentive to help end the war and get inflation down."
In the early days of the war, the 25th French president positioned himself as a mediator,
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