[ad_1]
CONGRATULATIONS BIDEN: Chancellor Ine Eriksen Søreide congratulates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on behalf of the government. – It is a historic election in many ways, both because the United States gets its first vice president and because the turnout was record, says Søreide. Photo: Hanna Hjardar
Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide hopes the United States will once again assume international leadership on climate policy with Joe Biden as president.
When Donald Trump took office in 2017, it was just under an hour before information about man-made climate change disappeared from the White House website.
A few months later, Trump confirmed that the United States would break with the Paris Agreement.
On Saturday afternoon, it became clear that Joe Biden had been named the winner of the American election. Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide believes it will enhance international cooperation and cites climate policy as an example.
Although the new administration will have to focus a lot on domestic politics, such as dealing with a pandemic that has hit the United States very hard and trying to unite a divided country, we also hope that new areas of cooperation will open up internationally, writes Eriksen Søreide in an SMS. to VG.
– Climate policy is an area in which Biden has announced that the United States will once again assume international leadership, and we appreciate that from Norway, continues Søreide.
also read
“The mother of the Paris Agreement” for VG: – The most crucial decade of humanity
– Do you think that Biden and the United States will re-commit to the Paris Agreement?
– I think the clear signals from Biden that the United States will return to the Paris Agreement are very positive and I welcome them.
Søreide congratulates Joe Biden and Kamala Harris on behalf of the government and writes that it is a historic election in many ways. Both because the United States has its first female vice president and because the turnout was record-breaking.
– We hope continuity in the close and good relationship that we have with the United States and that we have had with the changes of presidents. We work closely in the field of defense and security policy, and we are important to each other’s economies, says Søreide.
Read also: These are the climate ceilings that Trump has removed
also read
Eriksen Søreide is silent on Trump’s choice of foreign minister
– Benefit for Norway
NTNU political science professor Espen Moe also tells VG that he believes the United States will be to a greater extent a partner in international cooperation with Biden as president.
– We will see a United States that no longer distances itself from international cooperation. And that means a change in climate policy, says Moe.
Furthermore, he believes that the future of NATO is much more secure now than before.
– Under Trump, Asia has been more important than Europe, and there is no reason why this will change. But Biden will see his allies simply as that, and not as blood-sucking foes, as Trump did.
also read: Here the US and Norway disagree: WHO cuts, Israel and gun control
NEW DIRECTION: NTNU political science professor Espen Moe believes America will go in a new direction with Biden as president. Photo: Geir Mogen
A more liberal policy will be an advantage for Norway, as we are a small country in the world and therefore we depend on the operation of exports and imports, believes Moe.
– Trump said the EU is not a friend when it comes to trade. Under Trump, you saw that tendency to see the world as a zero-sum game. That’s not going to happen to Biden.
The professor says there is still a limit to what Biden can do if Republicans retain a majority in the Senate.
– Republicans are likely to retain the majority, so Biden’s room for maneuver is limited. It will not get legislative changes passed. Not everything can be reversed with a pencil stroke. But with Trump, we saw a kind of direction we will no longer go, he says.
