Joe Biden’s challenge at his first UN General Assembly: Convince allies he’s not
For world leaders who were alternately addled and amused by former President Donald Trump — who once encountered mocking laughter from the UN crowd in the middle of his big speech — Biden represented hope for a different era in American foreign relations. He spent his first foreign trip in June declaring across Europe that “America is back.”
He continued that message in his first appearance in New York when he met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
“The strong partnership between the United States and the U.N. is based on common values and principals, and at this moment, those bonds are more important than ever. America’s back and we believe in the United Nations and its values,” Biden said.
In his first address as President to the General Assembly, Biden will seek to allay those fears, making the case for a collective approach to simmering world problems like the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change. He will argue for a wholesale recalibration of priorities away from the wars of the past two decades and toward threats emerging today.
The President is expected to make the case for “rallying allies and partners and institutions to deal with the major challenges of our time,” a senior administration official said. Like in almost every aspect of his foreign policy, China will loom large, and Biden will warn in his speech against the world devolving into a new Cold War that divides the globe into spheres of influence.
Still, the growing wariness of once-enthusiastic allies isn’t lost on the President or his aides.
“I think the President’s view, having been on the world scene for 50 years, is that you always have to work on your relationships. That includes with global leaders,” press secretary Jen Psaki said. “He believes our relationships are sustaining over the course of many decades, and every step he has taken since the moment he took office was with the intention of rebuilding alliances and rebuilding those partnerships that were frayed over the last four years.”
A high-profile moment on the world stage
The annual appearance at the UN is one of the highest-profile opportunities for any president to spell out his foreign agenda, though this year’s gathering has been scaled down due to the pandemic. Biden will not engage in the usual flurry of pull-aside sessions in the corridors of UN headquarters on Manhattan’s East Side and he will return to the White House by Tuesday afternoon.
Officials view Biden’s speech and the other events surrounding it — including a Covid summit on Wednesday and a meeting of Pacific leaders on Friday — as a critical moment for the President to articulate his foreign policy vision and lay out what he believes should be the world’s priorities.
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