Biden dumps Trump’s foreign policy approach

US President-elect Joe Biden said on Tuesday the United States will be “ready to lead” again on the global stage, turning the page on President Donald Trump’s “America First” policies.

Reuters reported that Biden pledged to work together with the nation’s allies.

Introducing his foreign policy and national security team, the Democratic former vice president signaled he intended after taking office on January 20 to steer the United States away from the unilateralist nationalism pursued by Trump.

Trump over four years unsettled many U.S. allies, in Europe and elsewhere, with a hostile approach toward the NATO alliance and trade relations, and rejection of international agreements.

Biden said his team, which includes trusted aide Antony Blinken as his nominee for U.S. secretary of state, would shed what the president-elect described as “old thinking and unchanged habits” in its approach to foreign relations.

U.S. foreign policy under a Biden administration is likely to take more of a multilateral and diplomatic approach aimed at repairing Washington’s relationships with key allies and pursuing new paths on issues such as climate change.

His promise to embrace alliances, including in the Asia-Pacific region, follows a deterioration in bilateral ties between the United States and China, the world’s top two economies, that has triggered comparisons to the Cold War.

-Reuters