Authors: Conor Finnegan
Affiliation: ABC News
Organization/Publisher: ABC News
Date/Place: December 30, 2020/USA
Type of Literature: Analysis
Word Count: 2200
Link: https://abcnews.go.com/International/joe-bidens-top-foreign-policy-challenges-2021/story?id=74607315
Keywords: Foreign Policy Challenge, Biden’s Administration, Repair
Brief:
The article assesses the foreign policy challenges that Joe Biden will likely face immediate to his ascension of power as the 46th US president. Although the main focus of the president tilts towards addressing domestic challenges, anchored in his slogan “Building Back Better,” that include managing the Coronavirus pandemic, rehabilitating the US economy, and dealing with systemic racism and economic inequalities, the external challenges the US and the world are facing cannot wait. While the Biden administration attempts to solve these domestic issues, it certainly faces foreign policy crises “from Latin America to East Africa.” During his campaign trail, Biden reiterated that he has mainly restorative foreign policies, rather than innovative ones; rebuilding and working on America’s alliances (particularly in Europe and Asia) to compete with China, curtailing Russian aggression (especially in the area of cyber security), limiting the spread of weapons technology including chemical weapons, devising a mechanism to control North Korea’s progress in developing its nuclear weapons and missiles, dealing with an Iran which has already enriched higher-level uranium with more advanced centrifuges, leading global and regional efforts to address climate change and migration, and the culmination of America’s wars, without the risk of rising terror threats. In sum, Biden will focus on “ great power rivalries,” while mitigating and balancing Trump’s withdrawal of US troops from abroad though the threat of terrorism remains.
By: Jemal Muhamed, CIGA Senior Research Associate
