The U.S.’s relationship with China is the worst since countries normalized relations four decades ago. America’s allies in Europe are different. The most important anti-nuclear proliferation treaty is about to end with Russia. Iran is again collecting rich nuclear fuel, and North Korea is branding its nuclear arsenal.
Not to mention global warming, the refugee crisis and the drought in the poorest places on earth, which are exacerbated by epidemics.
President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. inherited President Trump’s “America First” mantra in terms of its unpredictability, the embrace of authoritarian leaders, and the challenges and reluctance toward the United States in countries resisting international cooperation. Mr Biden could also face difficulties in dealing with governments that had hoped for Mr Trump’s re-election – particularly Israel and Saudi Arabia, which share the president’s anti-Iran stance.
But Mr. Biden’s past as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and as vice president under the Obama administration has given him an acquaintance with international affairs that could work to his advantage, say foreign policy experts who know him.
“President Trump has lowered the bar so much that it won’t take long for Biden to change dramatically,” said Robert Mulay Lee, chief executive of the International Crisis Group and a former Obama White House adviser. “Saying a few things that Trump hasn’t said – multilateralism, climate change, rewinding the tape on human rights – would sound very loud and significant.”
Here are some of the most pressing foreign policy areas facing the Biden administration:
Challenging US-China relations
In the eyes of many experts, there is nothing more urgent than a slowdown in relations with China, an economic superpower and a geopolitical rival that Mr. Trump calls many a new Cold War economic superpower and a geopolitical rival. Controversy has erupted over trade, the South China Sea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and technology during Mr Trump’s tenure, with his critics saying the worst was by the president Racist declarations That China infected the world with coronavirus and should be held responsible.
“China is a radioactive hub for US foreign policy issues,” said Orville Shell, director of the Asia Society’s Center on US-China Relations.
Mr. Biden did not help himself during the 2020 campaign with his own negative portrayal of China and its dictatorial leader, President Xi Jinping. The two were once seen developing a friendly relationship during the Obama years. But Mr. Biden, presumably in part to deny Mr. Trump’s allegations. Acting that he would be at ease with China, most recently calling Mr. Xi a “thug”.
Middle East: Shift over Israel, Saudi Arabia and Iran?
Mr Biden has vowed to change what he called “a dangerous failure” of Mr Trump’s Iran policy, reprimanding the 2015 nuclear deal and replacing it with tougher sanctions that caused deep economic losses in Iran and largely alienated the United States. The issue. Mr Biden has offered to rejoin the deal, which would restrict Iran’s nuclear capabilities if Tehran complied with its provisions and agreed to negotiate further. He also vowed to immediately lift Mr. Trump’s travel ban, which affects Iran and many other Muslim-majority countries.
It is unclear whether the Iranian hierarchy will accept Mr Biden’s approach. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said the United States is unreliable regardless of who is in the White House. At the same time, “Iran is desperate for a deal,” said Cliff Kupchan, chairman of the Eurasia Group, a political risk adviser.
However, Mr Kupchan said Mr Biden would face “grave difficulties” in any talks with Iran aimed at strengthening sanctions on its nuclear activities.
“The object will be tough – we’ve seen this movie and it’s not easy,” Mr. Kupch said. “I think Biden’s challenge is not to blow it in his face.”
Mr Biden’s Iran policy could remove Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who could take advantage of Mr Trump’s confrontation to help strengthen Israel’s ties with the Gulf Arab states after normalizing diplomatic relations with the UAE and Bahrain. How Mr. Biden manages relations with Saudi Arabia, which considers Iran an enemy, will also be a challenge.
“There’s a very hard square to make a circle here,” Mr. Kupch said.
Mr. Trump’s extremely favorable attitude toward Israel in the long conflict with the Palestinians could also prove to be a netplace, as Mr. Biden navigates a different path in the Middle East. He has criticized Israeli settlement construction for the future state of Palestine. And it is likely to re-establish contacts with the Palestinian leadership.
“Benjamin Netanyahu can expect a period of unrest over the arrangement,” Israeli columnist Yossi Verter wrote in the Haaretz newspaper on Friday.
At the same time, Mr. Biden also has a history of cordial relations with Mr. Netanyahu. Mr Biden has said he will not move Mr Trump’s US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem – a move that has angered Palestinians.
Improving relations with Europe and navigating Brexit
While President Trump has repeatedly offended the European Union and strongly encouraged Britain to leave the group, Mr Biden has expressed opposition. Like Mr. Obama, he supported close American ties with EU leaders and opposed Brexit. Mr Biden’s rise could be particularly troubling for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who accepted Mr Trump and considered trade deals with the United States before his country’s divorce from the European Union took full effect. Mr. Biden could be in no hurry to complete such an agreement.
Many Europeans will be happy to see Mr. Trump leave, when they say the damage he has done to America’s credibility cannot be easily remedied.
Former Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brandtland told The New York Times last month that “we had differences, but never had a fundamental distrust of having common world views.” Over the past four years, he said, European leaders have learned that they will no longer accept that they can “trust the US, even on fundamental issues.”
Facing North Korea’s nuclear threat
Mr Trump has described his friendship and three meetings with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as a success in preventing a war with a nuclear-armed Hermitage country. But critics say Mr. Trump’s approach not only failed to persuade Mr. Kim to abandon the arsenal of nuclear weapons and missiles, it bought Mr. Kim time to strengthen him. Last month the North was found to have its largest intercontinental ballistic missile.
“On Trump’s watch, the North’s nuclear weapons program has grown very rapidly, its missile capabilities have increased, and Pyongyang can now target the United States from the ICBM,” said Evans JR Rever, a former North Korean State Department official and expert. “It’s the same legacy that Trump will soon give to Biden, and that will be a big burden.”
Mr Biden, described by North Korea’s official news agency as a “hard dog” who “must be beaten with a stick”, described Mr Trump’s approach as “authoritarian”. Mr Biden has said he would push for nuclear disarmament and “stand with South Korea”, but did not specify how he would deal with the North Korean war.
Probably for Russia and Putin. Strict approach
Mr Biden has long insisted he would be tougher on Russia than Mr Trump, who questioned the usefulness of NATO, questioned intelligence warnings about Russia’s interference in US elections, praised President Vladimir V. Putin and said That will improve relations with America. Everyone will benefit from the Kremlin. Mr Biden, who as vice-president pushed for sanctions against Russia over Ukraine’s annexation of the Crimean peninsula in 2014 – the largest illegal land seizure in Europe since World War II – could extend those sanctions and take other punitive measures.
While tensions with Russia are likely to escalate, arms control is an area where Mr. Biden and Mr. Putin want progress. Mr Biden is set to be sworn in just weeks before the end of the 2010 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. He has said he wants to negotiate an extension of the treaty without prejudice.
The Paris Agreement and the return of international commitment
Mr Biden said his first act as president would be to rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement to limit global warming, which the United States officially abandoned to Mr Trump on Wednesday. Mr Biden has also said he would restore US membership in the World Health Organization, which Mr Trump reprimanded amid a coronavirus epidemic and called the WHO a Chinese epidemic.
More broadly, Mr. Biden expects many of the isolationist and anti-immigrant measures taken during the Trump administration to be widely seen by Mr. Trump’s critics as a shameful stain on the American standing in the world. Mr Biden has said he will break Mr Trump’s immigration restrictions, stop building its border wall with Mexico, increase resources for immigrants and provide a path to citizenship for those living illegally in the United States.
Nonetheless, many of Mr. Trump’s policies had significant support in the United States, and it remains to be seen how quickly or effectively Mr. Biden can change them. The turmoil in American democracy and divisive elections has also cast doubt on Mr Biden’s ability to deliver on his promises.
Jane-Marie Guhenno, a fellow and former under-secretary of the Brookings Institution’s foreign policy program, said: “There is relief in returning to some kind of normalcy, but at the same time, history cannot be erased.” Common to peaceful operations in the United Nations. “The kind of soft power that the United States has enjoyed in the past has largely evaporated.”
