Negotiating America’s new position

The 46th President will have to find a way to make what US is doing abroad pay dividends for average Americans at home

After four grim years of Donald J Trump’s reign, the United States has finally managed to restore some form of normalcy by installing Joseph R Biden as President.

Biden, who took the helm after the most turbulent presidential term in America, has a long list of challenges to address. So, where should Joe Biden, a tested political character, who has spent more than four decades of his life in Washington DC begin?

The first challenge for the incoming US President is to accept the multipolarity that his predecessor nurtured through his America-first policy. Biden will also have to acknowledge that America’s role has changed significantly since he took that last train from Washington DC to Wilmington, Delaware, on January 20, 2017.

The broader picture suggests that America’s position in the world will continue to change and one that will be constantly negotiated by the Biden administration — but in a more strategic way than seen in the past.

Unlike any other US president, Biden begins his term with a laundry list of domestic and foreign policy issues that were created by his hot-headed predecessor. At home, the nation is deeply divided and the serious domestic factors, which threaten the State of the Union, will continue to prevent the 46^th President from pursuing an ambitious foreign policy agenda. Restoring faith in democracy, curbing the pandemic that has claimed more than 400,000 lives, and economic recovery at home, will consume much of Biden’s time in the Oval Office. He will have to focus with laser precision on the home front to heal the nation after four divisive and bruising years of his predecessor.

While domestic travails will keep the US President occupied, his team at Foggy Bottom appears to have the gravitas to independently handle matters related to America’s foreign policy. But regardless of how occupied Biden is and how competent his team is, the President will have to set some priorities for the newly configured State Department. Biden’s new team of old internationalists face a completely different arena than the one he bid adieu to in 2017. To reset the direction of America-foreign policy, the President will be required to take steps that lead to reprioritising America’s traditional allies all over the world. Biden will have to address global issues like climate change and human rights, which were deliberately ignored by his predecessor. Last but not the least, he will be required to find ways to take some of the attention off Trump’s America and refocus it on Xi Jinping’s China.

The rapid rise of Beijing’s material power will remain the most dominant issue for Washington DC. To create a successful policy towards Beijing, Biden will have to flip his predecessor’s script and abandon the Trump-style unilateralism in favour of a more coordinated approach with America’s allies. He will have to invest in the restructuring of the relationship and the patterns of competition, but that, by no means, will end the competition between the two rivals. And as long as that remains the dominant reality, the Washington-Beijing hostility will continue to remain unabated in some form. The Biden administration will also have to work hard to woo America’s closest western allies in Europe — that appear to be out of its orbit and clearly under China’s influence.

In our neighbourhood, Biden faces two major challenges: Iran and Afghanistan. He will have to immediately take steps to resuscitate whatever is left of the Iran nuclear deal, and review the situation in Afghanistan, where America seems to be entangled in an unending conflict. Unfortunately, the new US President faces a short timeline on both issues. With Iran’s election coming up in less than five months and the fact that Trump may have antagonised Tehran on his way out of the White House by slapping additional sanctions, Biden will not have much leverage. Similarly, in Afghanistan, President Biden will have to adopt a decisive path. He will have to endorse his predecessor’s agreement to withdraw American troops this spring or extend his nation’s longest military nightmare by continuing the mission indefinitely. Either way, he will be required to act very fast.

All in all, to create his own brand of foreign policy, Biden will have to reinvest in institutionalising, systemising and multilateralisation. But for the success of the President’s plan to deal with a world with evolving threats, his team of wizards at the State Department will have to muster domestic support. Without that consensus, the President’s policy will be set exclusively through executive order — that can easily be undone.

While there is no ready-made panacea, the 46^th President will have to find a way to make what America is doing abroad pay dividends for average Americans at home.

So, now, Biden’s gurus at the State Department face the difficult task of crafting a foreign policy that is approved by all Americans. And crafting such a policy will not be possible without acknowledging America’s domestic challenges and its new position in the world order that Biden inherited on January 20, 2021 — an order where his nation will have to negotiate its place on the table with old and new players.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 26^th, 2021.

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