Whether he intends to or not, Joe Biden might well become a transformational president on issues of foreign policy and national security. Since taking office, Biden has prioritized the challenge of meeting four major, largely domestic crises—COVID, the economy, racial divisions, and climate change. But the world seldom waits for a convenient moment to insert itself into the agenda, and for that and a host of other reasons, Biden already seems likely to have an international legacy of real consequence.
Even in his very first forays into foreign policy, Biden has made an impact. On Friday, he participated via videolink as a speaker at the Munich Security Conference. While his words might not have seemed out of place for a normal American president, they stood in striking contrast to those of his immediate predecessor.
He emphasized the importance of America’s partnerships with our allies noting pointedly, “They’re not transactional. They’re not extractive. They’re built on a vision of the future where every voice matters. Where the rights of all are protected and the rule of law is upheld. None of us has fully succeeded in achieving this vision. And in too many places, including in Europe and the United States, democratic progress is under assault.”
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The sound that attendees at the conference heard as he spoke those words was the transactional, arrogant, exceptionalist “Trump Doctrine” landing in the trash bin of history. And landing, as it happens, squarely on top of the “Bush Doctrine” as well.
But Biden was not merely reasserting the political view of one political group in the United States at the expense of another; he was opening the door to a new era in a trans-Atlantic partnership that has too long had our European allies wincing from a domineering America. He was also restoring democracy as a centerpiece of American foreign policy even as he acknowledged that the United States has plenty of work to do on that front at home.
Humility is a characteristic of only genuinely strong leaders. It comes naturally to Biden, as does foreign policy. When he spoke to the Munich conference, as when he addressed the leaders of the G7 economies earlier in the day, or when he visited the State Department on his first journey there as president, all who were listening could see his fluency in all matters of foreign and national security policy. It is no accident. Biden has more years of high-level foreign policy experience coming into the office than any president in U.S. history.
The result is a confident president who seems very likely to sidestep the learning curve periods that have proven very difficult for each of the past four presidents. In his Munich remarks he characterized Russia as a bully, condemned their efforts to destabilize democracies, and reframed the relationship after the non-stop rom-com kisses and caresses of the Trump years as one that pitted their advocacy of autocracy against our democratic values.
He also recommitted the United States to working toward “a diplomatic way forward on Iran’s nuclear program” stating clearly that the United States is prepared to re-engage in negotiations with international partners on the matter.
Earlier in the day at the G7, he recommitted the United States to contributing to the global vaccine alliance to help combat COVID in poorer nations and to working with the international community on the issue. Also, on Friday, America officially re-entered the Paris climate accords.
Meanwhile, Biden’s foreign policy and national security teams have been active. The State Department had prepared the way for the Biden’s remarks with its own commitment to move forward on Iran talks, engineering the re-entry into the Paris Accords, and actively establishing bilateral dialogue with leaders the world over, including most recently in the Middle East.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin held his first press conference Friday and tapped the brakes on Trump’s desired scramble for the exits in Afghanistan, suggesting that the United States would be “methodically and deliberately” weighing next steps. This caution was welcomed by foreign allies who, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel noted during the Munich Conference, were concerned that a premature exit would open the door to instability in that country and undoing progress on critical issues, like the treatment of women and girls.
In recent days, it has also been announced that the Defense Department would lead a strategic review of our most important bilateral relationship, that with China, and its implications for U.S. national security and that of our allies and interests in the Indo-Pacific region. Ambitious reforms on immigration policy are in the works, as are sweeping changes designed to address the climate crisis.
This is more than just simply “not being Trump.” It would be an ambitious agenda even for an administration not fighting multiple major fires on the home front. But the likelihood of Biden having a major, lasting impact on U.S. foreign policy is not simply limited to the agenda he and his team are setting.
Other factors will force decisions upon him that will have lasting consequences. A review of America’s nuclear forces and plans is long overdue and will surely have to take place under this administration. So too will major initiatives to address new threats such as cyber. A recent Atlantic Council paper suggested, for example, that NATO members each contribute .2 percent of GDP as part of their commitment to the alliance to upgrade capacity in that area. Related to that is that NATO is itself undergoing a period of transformation, a process framed this week in remarks by Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg that outlined plans to modernize the alliance.
This is long overdue and again, is a process that will likely take place on Biden’s watch. It will need to address the changing nature of the Russian threat, the implications of China’s growing ability, and willingness to project force globally, as well as changing technological, economic and demographic realities.
China’s anti-democracy moves in Hong Kong, its brutal oppression of the Uighurs in northwest China, its ambitions in the South China Sea, and challenges it poses in the area of technology security are also inevitably going demand a response from Biden in the next four years. North Korea will not be quiet. Beyond Iran, shifting alliances in the Middle East will also create opportunities and pose new challenges that simply can’t be postponed until after the United States has addressed its domestic challenges. Similarly, climate change will not wait for it to be convenient for us to take action.
Biden has prepared for challenges like these his entire career. He has put together a foreign policy and national security team that is already working like a well-oiled machine because they know each other well, have worked together before and because they have clear instructions from the top. Even Vice President Harris, whose international experience is more limited (although she did serve as a senator on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence), is now becoming more actively involved, stepping in to conduct bilateral exchanges with key allies, such as her exchange this week with French President Emmanuel Macron, and earlier conversations with Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and the head of the World Health Organization, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Graded on the curve against his other 21st century predecessors, Biden is bound to do well. George W. Bush presided over the greatest foreign policy disaster in American history. Donald Trump was the worst president in our history. Barack Obama was much better than both but took a while to get his sea legs on foreign policy and had several notable setbacks, such as with his irresolute and ineffective Syria policy. Early signs suggest that not only can we expect Joe Biden and his team to produce more effective U.S. foreign policy than we have seen in this century, it may well be that the moment demands it of him.
