Joe Biden will enter the White House in 2021 facing numerous domestic crises. But as Patrick Wintour explains, he cannot ignore the rest of the world
When Donald Trump took office four years ago it was with the mantra ‘America first’. International agreements were torn up, the US withdrew from commitments like the Paris climate agreement and cut its funding for the World Health Organization. Allies in Europe were scorned in favour of creating new relationships with ‘strongmen’ leaders such as Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un.
Now, as Joe Biden prepares to enter the White House he is promising to repair damaged relations and rejoin global institutions. But as the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, tells Anushka Asthana, the next four years will not be simply spent turning the clock back on global affairs: instead Biden will forge his own foreign policy based on promoting democracy and standing up to authoritarianism. It’s a change in tone that will have ramifications too in Britain, where a Brexit deal and an orderly exit from the EU (now without the prospect of a Trump-blessed US trade deal) is becoming ever more important.
