President Biden told leaders at the G-7 summit on Friday, the same day the U.S. reentered the Paris Agreement, that the days of “America First” diplomacy championed by former President Trump were over, according to The New York Times.
As the New York Post, which cited Biden’s intent to declare on Friday that the “America First” era was over, noted, “Biden has swiftly dismantled Trump’s foreign policy agenda, which saw the U.S. withdraw from the World Health Organization, the Paris Agreement and the Iran nuclear deal, which Trump believed were against the nation’s interests.”
One official told the Post, “Now he will get the opportunity as president of the United States early in his term to declare that America is back and the trans-Atlantic alliance is back. He will look forward to driving home the core proposition that the trans-Atlantic alliance is a cornerstone for American engagement in the world in the 21st century, just as it was in the 20th.”
Biden claimed, “America is back, the trans-Atlantic alliance is back … we are not looking backward.” He stated, “We have to prove that our model isn’t a relic of history. We must demonstrate that democracies can still deliver for our people in this changed world. That is our galvanizing mission. Democracy doesn’t happen by accident. We have to defend it. Strengthen it. Renew it.”
The G-7 group includes the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom in its organization.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo condemned Biden’s alteration of American foreign policy, telling Fox News that the US can’t afford “eight more years of Barack Obama’s foreign policy. … When he says ‘back,’ when America is back, does he mean back to letting China walk all over us, destroying millions of jobs in places like Kansas and South Carolina, that we know so well? I hope that’s not what he means by ‘back.’”
On Thursday, after the State Department said it would welcome restoring diplomacy with Iran, Pompeo stated, “The ayatollah understands only strength. I led a response to the Iranian threat that protected the American people from its terror and supported the Jewish state of Israel. Adopting the European Union model of accommodation will guarantee Iran a path to a nuclear arsenal.” He added that European nations “wanted to appease the Iranian theocracy for my entire time as secretary of state.”
Speaking at a virtual address Friday to the annual Munich Security Conference, Biden added, “We are in the midst of a fundamental debate about the future direction of our world,” adding that the debate is “between those who argue that – given all of the challenges we face, from the fourth industrial revolution to a global pandemic – autocracy is the best way forward and those who understand that democracy is essential to meeting those challenges,” as AP reported.