Biden to Ditch “America First” on the call for collaboration

Photographer: Doug Mills / The New York Times / Bloomberg

President Joe Biden will once again present himself and the United States to world leaders at a couple of international conferences on Friday, calling on industrialized democracies to partner to address the pandemic and climate change in a strong moving away from the foreign policy of its predecessor.

In statements to the Group of Seven and in a speech at the Munich Security Conference, Biden will represent collective action as essential also in the clashes of great powers with Russia and China, based on the approach of “America’s First” by former President Donald Trump on global affairs. . Trump opposed the Allies in order to secure more favorable trade agreements and reduce the U.S. military footprint, ties that Biden is trying to repair quickly.

U.S. relations with its allies “are not transactional,” Biden will say, according to excerpts from his speech at the Munich conference the White House released Friday. “They are not extractive. They are based on a vision of the future where every voice matters. “

The new president will also call on foreign leaders to match their efforts to make large investments in economic stimulus, infrastructure and technology, and warns that a greater risk lies in austerity, according to a senior administration official. Biden will argue that democracies must fight to preserve their institutions after foreign interference in their elections and national upheaval, such as the January attack on the U.S. chapter of Trump supporters.

“We are in the midst of a fundamental debate about the future direction of our world,” he will say in the speech, according to the excerpts. “Among those who argue that, given all the challenges we face, from the fourth industrial revolution to a global pandemic, autocracy is the best way forward and those who understand that democracy is essential to meet these challenges “.

“I believe that with every ounce of my being, democracy must prevail,” said Biden, who will describe the moment as a “turning point.”

Appearances are Biden’s first opportunity since taking office to address an international audience. His speech at the Munich conference, an annual meeting of world leaders, diplomats, defense officials and others, will follow a private summit with G-7 leaders. In the speech, Biden will detail U.S. efforts to combat the pandemic and call for international cooperation to strengthen cybersecurity and curb nuclear proliferation, the U.S. official said.

It will provide a rough outline of its focus on Afghanistan, Russia’s malicious behavior, and Iran’s nuclear program, but the speech is largely thought of as a proclamation that the United States is willing to re-engage in a transatlantic partnership, the official said. after Trump’s displays of contempt for NATO.

“The last four, five years have shaken the foundations of liberal democracy on both sides of the Atlantic, and I think you’ll want to use the discourse as an opportunity to say that United States he has once again become a reliable partner, “said Charles Kupchan, a senior member of the Foreign Affairs Council who served as senior director of European affairs on President Barack Obama’s National Security Council.

On Thursday, ahead of the summit and speech, the U.S. State Department announced that it would be open to meeting with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, China and Iran in an effort to revive the US government. ‘2015 agreement to prevent the Islamic Republic from gaining nuclear weapons.

Read more: US says it will be willing to meet with Iran to restore nuclear deal

In Europe, the relief that has ended the Trump era is tempered by the feeling that aspects of his “America First” legacy will persist. Few officials in European capitals expect the US to be as involved in international affairs as before. For some G-7 diplomats, this change was clear as early as 2013, when former President Barack Obama refused to intervene in the Syrian civil war even after the country’s government crossed its “red line” against the use of chemical weapons.

Angela Merkel, the four-term German chancellor, has more reasons than most to celebrate Biden. It was a frequent target of Trump’s vitriol for not spending enough on NATO defense. Near the end of his administration, the abrupt announcement that American troops stationed in Germany from the end of World War II would return home was seen as unpleasant.

The Pentagon has suspended the withdrawal under Biden, but the decision meant that the United States would turn the page on a chapter in history. Merkel acknowledged that the day after Biden took office, she warned Europe that she would need to take on more responsibilities.

Vaccine commitment

Still, Biden’s plans for the U.S. to re-engage in parts of the world that Trump intended to get out of, if not out. It will announce on Friday that the United States will provide up to $ 4 billion for low- and middle-income countries to acquire coronavirus vaccines through a Alliance of the World Health Organization known as Covax. The administration will match part of this aid, which will be distributed over the next two years, to other contributions, in order to intensify Western aid for vaccinations.

In his speech, the new president will also signal the official return of the United States to the Paris Climate Agreement on Friday, the White House said.

Biden aims to win international applause simply by rejoining the Allies and making traditional statements of U.S. commitments to mutual defense. Trump’s flirtations with the abandonment of NATO, the embrace of autocrats, and the threats of trade wars eroded the role of U.S. international leadership.

However, only 10% of Europeans believe the US would intervene on its behalf during a military crisis, according to a European Foreign Affairs Council poll. About six out of ten Europeans surveyed said they would like their country to remain neutral in a conflict between the United States and Russia or China.

Statistics betray the upward rise facing Biden on an uncertain continent whose presidency will introduce transformative changes. And European leaders face many of the same national concerns that dominated the Trump administration, from fears about foreign interference in their policy to concerns about the effects of immigration and globalization.

“The current concern about European security and the security of allies is not just an external attack,” said Constanze Stelzenmüller, a senior member of the Brookings Institution. “It’s also about undermining our democratic institutions, trying to subvert or sabotage our physical and digital infrastructure, and undermining some social peace by contributing to polarization through misinformation and propaganda.”

Questions remain in Europe about how Biden’s “middle-class” foreign policy will translate into hard-line trade negotiations or the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

The White House has yet to say how it will implement Trump’s order to reduce the levels of U.S. troops and eliminate the remaining 2,500 U.S. forces on May 1, with some officials worried that moving forward may encouraging the Taliban or endangering the NATO forces that still exist in the country.

Defense officials have stressed that further withdrawals from Afghanistan will depend on fighting conditions and progress in negotiations between the Afghan government and the Taliban.

China’s tension