“When I was with Xi Jinping (and I was on the Tibetan plateau with him), he asked me at a private dinner, he and I, and we all had an interpreter, he said,‘ Can you define me as America? ? “Biden recounted during a new staff swearing-in ceremony. He said he simply replied, ‘Possibilities.’
The anecdote, which took place at a 2011 dinner inside a Chengdu hotel restaurant, was designed to offer Biden’s vision of the American dream when he took over the presidency. But it also acted as a deliberate reminder to enter the workplace with a long history of cultivating international actors who will now be faced as an equal and, in some cases, as an adversary.
He launched his global efforts Friday afternoon with a call to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a traditionally reliable first diplomatic exit that, however, presents some tension: Biden has revoked a 9 billion keystone permit for the Keystone XL pipeline of dollars, which would wrap Alberta’s oil across the border with the United States.
Biden will also speak Friday with Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, another first traditional conversation for a new American leader.
Always an advocate of the development of personal relationships with his interlocutors (whether Republicans, business leaders or foreign heads of state), Biden takes office already knowing many of the figures with whom he will deal at world summits, in meetings bilateral and by telephone. . His stated goal is to re-establish the United States as a global arbiter of the international order and, as he said during his inaugural speech on Wednesday, “repair our alliances and commit to the world once again.”
Strong contrast
This is totally different from how Trump began his career in foreign diplomacy. As president-elect in 2016, he responded to any leader who found his cell phone number instead of arranging calls through the State Department. This provoked embarrassing moments for leaders such as then-British Prime Minister Theresa May, whose ambassador to Washington struggled to reach someone close enough to Trump who could call him on the phone with the United States’ top ally. .
Once in office, the foreign leader’s calls at first seemed more organized. There were drafted lists, arranged schedules and preparation of information cards. But Trump, who mostly ignored the points of discussion offered by national security aides, often deviated from the script and talked about what he wanted.
And those were the phone calls that other officials knew. Trump easily handed his cell phone number to his counterparts at the summits. And after his phone call with the president of Ukraine led to his first dismissal, the circle of people who could hear him was drastically reduced.
Personal relationships
Biden is unlikely to take a similar approach, although one thing in common may be his devotion to personal relationships by stacks of informative books and discussion points.
“I’ve known all the major world leaders over the last 35 years, not because I’m important, but because of the nature of my work,” he said in last year’s campaign.
“I (Obama) would always say that all politics is personal, especially international relations,” Biden added. “You have to know the soul of the other man or woman, and who they are, and make sure they know you.”
Many of them already do. Biden has met Putin on several occasions, even when the Russian leader was showing his office in Moscow and Biden told him, a few inches from his face, that he did not believe he had a soul.
He will be the fourth president of the United States to establish a relationship with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, known for her regular attendance at the Munich security conference. Finally, he will have to have a relationship with whoever replaces Merkel after he resigns this year.
Biden did not deal closely with French President Emmanuel Macron, who was first elected in 2017, during his time as vice president.
But her relationship with Xi has become an almost legendary subject. The two traveled more than 10,000 kilometers together and were for hours of private dinners in China and the United States when they were counterparts and Biden was sent to take the temperature of the Chinese heir.
More complicated may be the leaders who cultivated Trump for his own political ends, such as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Johnson has already decided not to make any trouble with Biden’s decision to move a bust of Winston Churchill to the oval office, a far cry from his reaction when Obama did the same and blamed the “ancestral aversion of the” party president of Kenya. the British Empire “.
“Obviously, it’s the job of all UK prime ministers to have a very close relationship with the president, a close working relationship with the president and a good working relationship with the president of the United States,” Johnson said this week. “And in fact, when they look at the issues that unite me and Joe Biden, the UK and the US right now, there’s a fantastic joint agenda.”
Foreign leaders
Administration officials said they do not expect foreign leaders to begin visiting the White House in the short term. Under Trump, visits by foreign leaders also fell during the pandemic, although some, including the Polish right-wing leader and Israeli Netanyahu, made their way.
Even the Irish leader’s traditional St. Patrick’s Day visit in March seems questionable; Taoiseach Micheál Martin told CNN this week that there has been no decision on whether to proceed in the midst of the pandemic.
“I invited President Biden to Ireland,” Martin told Christiane Amanpour. “He joked, ‘Try to keep me out.'”
In fact, Biden officials do not expect the president to travel abroad while the pandemic continues to rage, although he would like to start flying abroad.
“Despite his desire (my desire, if that matters) to take a trip abroad, I think it will be some time,” press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday. “I have no update when it will occur at this time.”
This year’s list of summits could take Biden first to the UK, where Johnson will host the G7 at a Cornwall coastal station in June. In the autumn, the G20 is scheduled in Rome. And Johnson is once again hosting leaders in Glasgow for a climate conference in November.
Biden himself has pledged to convene a Summit for Democracy during his first year in office, although no details have been revealed (including the guest list, location and whether he will meet in person).
This leaves, for the time being, the telephone as Biden’s main diplomatic tool, starting at 5pm on Friday with Trudeau and then with López Obrador. Psaki said Biden will speak to European leaders next week.
While phone calls don’t have chemistry at the individual dinners Biden has enjoyed, it doesn’t start from scratch.
One of his last trips as vice president was to a state dinner Trudeau held in his honor during the final days of the Obama administration. Speaking that snowy Ottawa evening in a hall that included former Canadian prime ministers and politicians, Biden understood his personal connections to the country and its leaders.
He mentioned that his first wife, Neilia, had family connections to Toronto. He explained how his two children had wanted to be “mountaineers” when they were older. And he cited a phone call he had received from Trudeau’s father, Pierre, who was then acting prime minister, in 1972 after his wife and daughter died in a Christmas car accident.
“I lost my part of my family,” Biden said. “And your father was not only decent and honorable, but he got his hands on it. He contacted me and congratulated me on the loss of my wife and daughter.”
At the end, he made this call to Trudeau, who at the time seemed to replace Obama as the world’s preeminent liberal: “Long live Canada. Because we need you very, very badly.”