Biden will be attending twin summits in Rome, then Scotland. He is asking world leaders for their support to a country that appears unable to agree on its future.
His visit takes place against the backdrop of Congress’ ongoing struggle to pass his domestic agenda. To build support for his plan, Biden’s fellow Democrats have gradually reduced Biden’s spending plans on families and health care as well as renewable energy. They also fought for tax increases to pay for it.
The president is also putting on hold his separate $1 trillion infrastructure package, which he hopes will support the $1.75 trillion expansion of social programs. The president is now asking the world to evaluate him more on his intentions than his actual results.
Biden administration officials claim that American allies are aware of the complexity of the legislative process, and are not fazed. However, world leaders are acutely aware of Biden’s declining poll numbers. This could lead to a Republican resurgence within Congress in 2022’s midterm election, and the possibility of former President Donald Trump, or someone with similar political views two years later.
During briefings in Rome by senior administration officials, the White House believes that American alliances were subject to enormous trauma under the previous administration. The healing work under Biden continues.
According to a senior administration official, Saturday’s White House statement stated that allies want Biden in order to secure as much progress as possible. This is because Biden is deeply committed to transatlantic partnerships.
Benjamin Haddad, the director of the Europe Center at Washington’s think tank Atlantic Council, said that “the administration created really high expectations for a kind of reset in transatlantic relations with the ‘America’ rhetoric.” “I believe there were probably too many expectations that we could just forget about the past four years.”
After four years of Donald Trump’s “America First” campaign, Biden said that the U.S. would become a more reliable and engaged partner for allies.
However, in his early days of his presidency, he frustrated his international allies and provided fodder to his Republican critics. The U.S.’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan was one of the setbacks, as well as a diplomatic dispute with France over the U.S. plan to arm Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.
Biden’s decision to lift sanctions on German entities that were involved in Nord Stream 2’s gas pipeline also disappointed Eastern European allies (Poland and Ukraine).
The United States considers the Russia-to Germany pipeline a threat for European energy security. It increases Europe’s dependence on Russian gas and allows Russia political pressure on its neighbours. However, imposing sanctions on Germany would have created a new dispute with one the United States’ closest allies.
European allies were also furious at the Biden administration’s restrictions on travel from European Union nations because of the coronavirus epidemic. The Biden administration announced that it would lift restrictions on travel from 33 countries next month, which includes members of the EU and China as well as Iran, South Africa, Brazil, South Africa, South Africa, Brazil, India, and Iran.
The G-20 saw some progress when the White House announced that the U.S. had reached an agreement with the European Union to end their diplomatic dispute over Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs.
These tariffs were imposed on national security grounds, which led to retaliatory taxes from the EU. They won’t be entirely removed. The U.S. will allow some European steel and aluminum to enter without tariffs, and any retaliatory tariffs from the EU will cease.
Although prospects are good for the United States to invest in climate change, it is not clear if they will do so. The delay has only reinforced American policy’s indecisiveness on the eve the Glasgow summit. This shows that one president’s priorities can be reversed.
If Congress fails to pass legislation that would allow the United States to take significant climate action, it “would be like President Trump pulling back from the Paris Agreement, again,” John Kerry, former secretary of State and climate envoy, told the AP earlier in the month.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi invoked the trip of President Biden as she attempted to rally Democratic votes for the $1 trillion infrastructure package. She failed to win support for a vote on Thursday, however, in a closed-door meeting with House Democrats.
She said, “When the president gets off that airplane we want him have a vote to confidence from this Congress.” She referred to conversations she had with world leaders about whether American democracy could deliver.
According to a source, Biden said that the rest of the world is wondering if we can function.
Biden’s actions at the Group of 20 summit, Rome, and the next U.N. climate summit, Glasgow, are just two examples of how Biden hopes to show it can.
He gathered in Rome on Saturday with Angela Merkel of Germany, Emmanuel Macron of France, and Boris Johnson from Britain to discuss the Iran deal’s strategy. This four-way meeting was intended to be a contrast to the Trump administration’s Iran nuclear issue, which was one of the most contentious issues between the U.S. government and Europe.
Biden also met with Macron individually on Friday as part of an effort to get past a separate row about a U.S.-U.K. secret deal to sell nuclear submarines to Australia. This agreement cost France tens and billions of dollars.
Macron said that Macron’s statement was the start of a trust-building process for him.
William Howell, University of Chicago political scientist, stated that Biden’s challenge is less about his skill or domestic support for his agenda, but more about the current state of American politics.
Howell stated that “the pervasive gridlock and polarization that characterize our nation’s politics will… give foreign officials some pause before entering long-term, expensive agreements with us.”
President Obama did achieve a global agreement to create a global minimum corporate tax. This long-awaited move was intended to stop companies from shifting their profits offshore to tax havens. The legislation to implement it in the U.S. is a part of a larger package of legislation that hasn’t yet been passed by Congress.
