U.S. President-elect Joe Biden said on Tuesday the United States will be “ready to lead” again on the global stage, turning the page on Republican President Donald Trump’s “America First” policies as he 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 Jan. 20 to steer the United States away from the unilateralist nationalism pursued by Trump.
Biden also signaled that two former, more liberal, rivals for the Democratic presidential nomination, Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, were not under consideration for Cabinet appointments, saying he needed their votes in the closely divided Senate.
Trump over four years unsettled many U.S. allies, in Europe and elsewhere, with an antagonistic approach toward the NATO alliance and trade relations, abandonment of international agreements and warm relationships with authoritarian leaders.
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.
“It’s a team that reflects the fact that America is back, ready to lead the world, not retreat from it, once again sit at the head of the table, ready to confront our adversaries and not reject our allies, ready to stand up for our values,” Biden said at the event in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware.
Biden said his administration would not be a mirror of the Obama-Biden years because the world has changed. "Trump has changed the landscape," he said.
The president-elect said he wanted the United States to be united with virulent political dialogue that has been going on to end.
He also discussed his incoming administration now having access to critical and expects full cooperation now that the Trump's General Services Administration has green lighted the transition of power with the incoming team.