Biden puts his foreign policy at the G7 summit in Munich

Before Biden’s hypothetical appearances at the G-7 and Munich Security Conference, the White House sought to assure that the new administration would move quickly to reorient the United States away from Donald Trump’s “America first” slogan by announcing a pair of major competitors. Setbacks for Trump administration policies.

The State Department announced Thursday that the United States is ready to rejoin talks about a return to the 2015 multilateral Iran nuclear deal that the Trump administration abandoned.

White House officials said that Biden will announce at the G7 that the United States will soon begin releasing $ 4 billion for international efforts to promote the purchase and distribution of the Coronavirus vaccine to poor countries, a program that Trump has refused to support. Both the G-7 and the annual security conference are being held virtually due to the pandemic.

Biden’s turn on the world stage comes as the United States on Friday formally returned to the Paris climate agreement, the largest international effort to curb global warming. Trump announced in June 2017 that he would withdraw the United States from the landmark agreement, arguing that it would undermine the American economy.

Biden announced the United States’ intention to join the agreement on the first day of his presidency, but had to wait 30 days for the move to take effect. He has said that he will put climate change considerations into every major domestic and foreign policy decision his administration faces.

His first entry into international summit meetings will inevitably be seen by some as just an attempt to correct the course of Trump’s agenda. However, the new president made clear that his domestic and foreign policy agenda would not be merely erasing the Trump years.

“I’m tired of talking about Donald Trump,” Biden said earlier this week at CNN City Hall in Milwaukee.

During his election campaign the president pledged to reassert the leadership of the United States in the international community, a role that Trump has often abandoned while complaining that the United States is too often exploited by independent allies.

To that end, the White House said Biden would encourage G7 partners to fulfill their pledges to COVAX, an initiative by the World Health Organization to improve access to vaccines, even as the U.S. tap reopens.

Trump withdrew the United States from the World Health Organization and refused to join more than 190 countries in the COVAX program. The former president accused the World Health Organization of covering up China’s mistakes in dealing with the virus at the beginning of the public health crisis that led to the collapse of the strong US economy.

It remains to be seen how the G7 allies will accept Biden’s calls for greater international cooperation on vaccine distribution given that the United States has refused to participate in the initiative under Trump’s leadership and there are increasing calls for the Biden administration to distribute some American products. Vaccine supplies abroad.

French President Emmanuel Macron, in an interview with the Financial Times, Thursday called on the United States and European countries to allocate up to 5% of current vaccine supplies to developing countries – the kind of vaccine diplomacy that China and Russia have begun spreading.

And earlier this week, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres strongly criticized the “grossly unequal and unfair” distribution of COVID-19 vaccines, noting that 10 countries provided 75% of all vaccines.

Administration officials say Biden, who announced last week that the United States will have sufficient supplies of a vaccine by the end of July to vaccinate 300 million people, is still focused for now on making sure every American is vaccinated.

Allies will also listen closely to what Biden has to say about a looming crisis with Iran.

Iran informed the International Atomic Energy Agency this week that it will suspend the voluntary implementation next week of a provision in the 2015 deal that allows UN nuclear observers to conduct inspections of undeclared sites in Iran at short notice unless the United States reduces sanctions by February 23. .

Foreign Minister Anthony Blinken told his counterparts from France, Germany and the United Kingdom on Thursday that the United States is prepared to enter into discussions with Iran in an effort to reach an agreement on returning to full compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal, according to a joint agreement. Statement from the three countries.

Trump withdrew the United States from the deal negotiated by the Obama administration and renewed sanctions against Tehran, a move Biden, as a candidate, said was short-sighted and dangerous.

But the joint statement from Blinken and other ministers made clear that the Biden administration still expects Iran to return to full compliance with the 2015 deal before the United States re-engages. It also urged Iran to “consider the consequences of such a serious act, especially at this time when the diplomatic opportunity is renewed.”

Biden has participated in the Munich Security Conference several times as a senator, vice president and most recently as a private citizen.

When Biden last addressed the conference two years ago, he sought to reassure allies who were shocked by Trump’s “America first” policies that “this too will pass.”

Biden told the audience, “We will return.” “You have no doubt about that.”