President Biden re-engaged the United States with the Paris Climate Pact and the World Health Organization, but America’s broader foreign policy is in a state of flux between the Trump and Biden eras.
Driving the news: One of the Biden administration’s most startling moves so far was a show of continuity, coinciding with the Trump administration’s last-minute decision that China had committed “genocide” against Uighur Muslims.
- Appointed Secretary of State Tony Blinken also said the U.S. would continue to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, considering Juan Guaidó the legitimate interim president of Venezuela, providing lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine and opposing the North Stream pipeline. 2 between Russia and Russia. Germany.
- President Trump’s trade war tariffs will remain in place for now, pending a review, as well as his plan to get the U.S. out of Afghanistan.
- Biden nominees made significant promises of their confirmation hearings no to make sudden changes to Trump’s policies. Perhaps this is to be expected, as they have no incentive to make waves before facing a vote in the Senate.
Still, Biden has made some immediate changes on the background, in addition to style.
What they say: Blinken said unequivocally that the United States would end its support for the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen.
- He also promised to quickly review Trump’s controversial decision to label the Houthi rebels as a terrorist group.
- Meanwhile, Avril Haines, the newly confirmed director of national intelligence, said she would declassify an intelligence report on the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi by Saudi agents. He is reportedly blamed on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
About Iran, both Blinken and Haines reiterated Biden’s plan to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal if Iran fulfills it again.
- Yes, but: Both warned that there was “a long way to go” to consult with allies like Israel and that Biden’s real goal was a broader agreement that would also cover Iran’s missile program and regional behavior.
- It is necessary to emphasize: Blinken said he does not believe Biden has the legal authority to attack Iran without consulting Congress.
The state of play: Biden has taken the first chances to point out that the US will commit to multilateralism, including the pandemic.
- Blinken announced that the United States would join the COVAX initiative, the global effort of WHO and other groups to ensure that all countries have access to COVID-19 vaccines.
- Virtually everyone had already signed up to COVAX, apart from the United States and Russia.
- Biden’s candidates did not point to any immediate political change in China, although Blinken stressed the importance of working with allies to confront Beijing.
Biden ended the travel ban aimed at a dozen predominantly Muslim countries.
- During his campaign, he promised to raise the annual refugee admission limit in the United States to 125,000, from the all-time low of 15,000 under Trump.
The summary: Biden’s team has a radically different perspective than Trump’s on how to meet the greatest challenges facing the United States, or even what those challenges are. But it will take time to really chart a new course.