Biden gives up on “America First” on appeal for partnership

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 pair of international conferences on Friday, urging industrialized democracies to join forces to deal with the pandemic and climate change in a sudden deviation from his predecessor’s foreign policy.

In remarks to the Group of Seven and a speech to the Munich Security Conference, Biden will describe collective action as essential in the confrontations of the great powers with Russia and China, pivoting on former President Donald Trump’s “America First” approach to global affairs. . . Trump has opposed the Allies to secure more favorable trade deals and reduce the US military footprint, ties Biden is trying to repair quickly.

The US relations with its allies “are not transactional”, Biden will say, according to excerpts from his speech at the Munich conference, which the White House launched on Friday. “They are not extractive. They are built on a vision of the future in which every voice matters. ”

The new president will also call on foreign leaders to join forces to make large investments in economic stimulus, infrastructure and technology, warning that a higher risk lies in austerity, according to a senior government official. Biden will argue that democracies must fight to keep their institutions in the wake of both foreign election and domestic overthrow, such as the January attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters.

“We are in the middle of a fundamental debate about the future direction of our world,” he said in a statement. “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 coping with those challenges. “

“I believe with every ounce of my being that democracy must prevail,” Biden will say, calling the moment “a turning point.”

The appearances are Biden’s first opportunity since the inauguration to address an international audience. His speech at the Munich conference, an annual gathering of world leaders, diplomats, defense officials and others, will be followed by a private summit with G-7 leaders. In the speech, Biden will detail US efforts to combat the pandemic and call for international cooperation to strengthen cybersecurity and reduce nuclear proliferation, the US official said.

He will provide a rough outline of his approach to Afghanistan, Russia’s malicious behavior and Iran’s nuclear program, but the speech is largely intended as a proclamation that the United States is ready to re-engage in a transatlantic partnership, said the official, after Trump’s displays of contempt for NATO.

“The last four or five years have shaken the foundations of liberal democracy on both sides of the Atlantic, and I think it will want to use discourse as an opportunity to say that United States he has returned as a reliable partner, ”said Charles Kupchan, a senior member of the Foreign Relations Council who was senior director for European affairs on President Barack Obama’s National Security Council.

Ahead of the summit and speech on Thursday, the US State Department announced that it will be open to meetings with Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and Iran in an effort to revive the 2015 agreement to stop the Islamic Republic from gaining nuclear power. weapons.

Read more: The US says it is willing to meet with Iran to restore the nuclear deal

In Europe, the relief that the Trump era is over 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 ever. For some G-7 diplomats, this change has been clear since 2013, when former President Barack Obama refused to intervene in the Syrian civil war even after the country’s government crossed the “red line” against the use of chemical weapons.

Angela Merkel, the four-term German chancellor, has more reasons than most to celebrate Biden. She was a frequent target of Trump’s vitriol because he did not spend enough to defend NATO. Near the end of his administration, the sudden announcement that American troops stationed in Germany at the end of World War II would come home was seen as bad.

The Pentagon has suspended its withdrawal from Biden, but the decision has been a turning point in history. Merkel acknowledged that the day after Biden’s inauguration, she warned Europe that it would have to take more responsibility.

Vaccination commitment

However, Biden’s plans for the US to re-engage in parts of the world, Trump tried to give up. He will announce on Friday that the United States will contribute up to $ 4 billion for low- and middle-income countries to purchase coronavirus vaccines through a The Alliance of the World Health Organization known as Covax. The administration will match some of this assistance – which will be distributed over the next two years – to other contributions, in an attempt to step up Western aid for vaccinations.

In his speech, the new president will also note the official US return to the Paris Climate Agreement on Friday, the White House said.

Biden intends to win international applause simply by resuming with the Allies and by traditionally declaring US commitments to mutual defense. Trump’s flirtations with the abandonment of NATO, the embrace of autocrats and the threats of trade wars have eroded the role of US international leader.

However, only 10% of Europeans believe the US would intervene on their behalf during a military crisis, according to a European Council on External Relations poll. Nearly six out of 10 Europeans surveyed said they wanted their country to remain neutral in a conflict between the US and Russia or China.

Statistics betray the upward rise Biden is facing on an uncertain continent that his presidency will introduce a transformative change. European leaders also face many of the same internal anxieties that have dominated the Trump administration, from fears of foreign meddling in their politics to concerns about the effects of immigration and globalization.

“Today’s concern about Europe’s security and the security of its allies is not just about an external attack,” said Constanze Stelzenmüller, a senior senior at the Brookings Institution. “It is also about undermining our democratic institutions, trying to undermine 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 tough trade negotiations or the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.

The White House has not yet said how it will implement Trump’s order to reduce the level of U.S. troops and eliminate the remaining 2,500 U.S. forces by May 1, with some officials worried that the outcome could further encourage the Taliban or may endanger NATO forces still in the country.

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

China Tension