Joe Biden’s foreign policy is evolving before our eyes. It’s refreshing to see a policy and an administration that has confidence enough to show us how they’re thinking.
While he was at the Carnegie Endowment, Jake Sullivan, now Biden’s National Security Advisor, led a study called “Making U.S. Foreign Policy Work Better for the Middle Class.” I summarized that report here. It was published in September 2020, before the election, but Sullivan would have discussed it with Biden.
Wednesday this week (March 3), Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave a speech “A Foreign Policy for the American People.” Comparing the report and this speech give insights into the administration’s policy development.
First is the title. When I was working through the report and discussing it with friends, the strongest and most frequent reaction I got was to the focus on the middle class. Clearly Blinken and others got the same reaction and changed that to “the American People.”
Second is the length. Where the report had 68 pages, Blinken’s speech has a little over 4000 words. It’s a short speech and seemed to me even shorter than my post on the report, although that’s not the case. I think it seems shorter because it’s sharpened up.
The overall structure of the speech is similar to that of the report – the order and priority of topics – but much clearer. Blinken begins with a short explanation that Biden’s policy is that foreign policy should serve ordinary Americans. Then he talks about change:
Yes, many of us serving in the Biden administration also proudly served President Obama – including President Biden. And we did a great deal of good work to restore America’s leadership in the world; to achieve hard-won diplomatic breakthroughs, like the deal that stopped Iran from producing a nuclear weapon; and to bring the world together to tackle climate change. Our foreign policy fit the moment, as any good strategy should.
But this is a different time, so our strategy and approach are different. We’re not simply picking up where we left off, as if the past four years didn’t happen. We’re looking at the world with fresh eyes.
He lays out four general principles:
- American leadership and engagement matter.
- We need countries to cooperate, now more than ever.
- President Biden has pledged to lead with diplomacy because it’s the best way to deal with today’s challenges.
- We’ll look not only to make progress on short-term problems, but also to address their root causes and lay the groundwork for our long-term strength.
He then enumerates eight points, all simultaneously international and domestic:
- First, we will stop COVID-19 and strengthen global health security.
- Second, we will turn around the economic crisis and build a more stable, inclusive global economy.
- Third, we will renew democracy, because it’s under threat.
- Fourth, we will work to create a humane and effective immigration system.
- Fifth, we will revitalize our ties with our allies and partners.
- Sixth, we will tackle the climate crisis and drive a green energy revolution.
- Seventh, we will secure our leadership in technology.
- And eighth, we will manage the biggest geopolitical test of the 21st century: our relationship with China.
The speech has more detail. Most of the specifics are put similarly to the way they are addressed in the report. Immigration and the climate crisis are given more emphasis than in the report.
Under the second point, Blinken talks about change:
Some of us previously argued for free trade agreements because we believed Americans would broadly share in the economic gains that those – and that those deals would shape the global economy in ways that we wanted. We had good reasons to think those things. But we didn’t do enough to understand who would be negatively affected and what would be needed to adequately offset their pain, or to enforce agreements that were already on the books and help more workers and small businesses fully benefit from them.
Our approach now will be different. We will fight for every American job and for the rights, protections, and interests of all American workers.
Beating COVID-19 is clearly the first priority, as we’ve seen in Biden’s actions so far. Blinken mentions getting the world immunized so that it doesn’t fester elsewhere and come back to us. Biden’s announcements this week of increased vaccine production and more rapid immunization of Americans point to getting the vaccine out to others. I think that the administration will go slow on foreign policy initiatives until COVID-19 is much more under control.
A few more quotes worth highlighting:
The Biden administration’s foreign policy will reflect our values.
We will stand firm behind our commitments to human rights, democracy, the rule of law. And we’ll stand up against injustice toward women and girls, LGBTQI people, religious minorities, and people of all races and ethnicities. Because all human beings are equal in rights and dignity, no matter where they live or who they are.
We will respect science and data, and we will fight misinformation and disinformation, because the truth is the cornerstone of our democracy.
And, perhaps most important:
We will balance humility with confidence.
The whole speech is worth reading, and easy to read. This administration has some great speechwriters.
A small excerpt:
Cross-posted to Nuclear Diner
rikyrah
Good post.
Thanks
cain
This seems like finally we are shifting back to our workers roots and stop fellating corporations. I think it’s refreshing that we are going to be more comprehensive about what we do. Especially in regards to those trade agreements since by in large they haven’t helped Mexican farmers or others but instead help destroy them which lead to the more migrant workers.
I believe that having less migrant workers (eg their economy is good that they can continue to work there) will force businesses here to figure out how to farm without exploitation.
ETA: #2! So happy!
Baud
Thanks. The mainstream news doesn’t cover this as much as they should.
Jeffro
“we’re broke, and we can’t afford to dick around anymore” – I like it!
j/k It’s nice to have competent people back in charge. Walking and chewing gum seems beyond the capability of Republican administrations, so hey go Dems!
Baud
@cain:
Your view of American history isn’t necessarily mine.
laura
I hope that our foreign policy is consistent with our economic policies and dare to dream, our labor policies. I’m so very down with addressing capital flight, offshoring wealth to avoid taxation and a whole lot less concern for shareholder return on the backs of workers. My inner Keynesian is cautiously optimistic. Maybe, in my lifetime, the stockmarket will rise when employers hire instead of when they layoff workers. Basing an economy on the trading of paper has not served us well and a return to a vibrant, consumer driven market of domestic and foreign goods would be a nice change of pace.
Cheryl Rofer
@Baud: I have seen it in one – one – national publication, and that was to say, huh, looks like they’re going to continue Trump trade practices. To which I would say, wait and see.
There is one more release this week that is part of this – the Interim National Security Strategic Guidance. I’ll have a post on that too.
Baud
@Cheryl Rofer:
I suspect the change from Trump’s trade practices will be more gradual and nuanced than sharp.
p.a.
Even NAFTA had words protecting workers and the environment. The issue is having an entity willing and a mechanism to enforce the pretty words.
WereBear
I’m tingling all over!
lowtechcyclist
@p.a.:
THIS.
Baud
@WereBear: You should get that checked out.
WereBear
@Baud: I’m assuming the weight that was squishing my soul made it “fall asleep” like a foot.
And now it’s waking up.
Baud
@WereBear:
That’s what you get for having cats.
There go two miscreants
One thing that I have not seen emphasized WRT trade policy is that the U.S. Government did not “send jobs overseas.” Every decision to offshore production or procure from another country was made by corporate management. Trade policy may permit, rather than forbid, those decisions, or make them easier, but the decisions themselves were made by businesses, not the government.
I do agree that the government needs to do a lot more to spread the benefits of trade widely, rather than letting it accrue to a narrow slice of the country.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@There go two miscreants: You have it backwards, the benefits of trade are wide, the costs are narrow and felt acutely.
clay
@Baud:
Unless “this” is “stupid Beltway gossip”, then you could apply this sentence to anything.
Baud
@There go two miscreants:
I wonder how things would have worked out if Dems had kept Congress in 1994. You’d still have trade deals like NAFTA, but you might have also had programs that helped people transition to the new global market.
BruceFromOhio
A welcome change.
@Cheryl Rofer:
Um, did that writer read the same speech?
UncleEbeneezer
Blinken was also interviewed on the podcast of another Secretary of State you may have heard of…
Baud
@BruceFromOhio:
Couldn’t disagree more. I wanted some who would balance confidence with humility. This is a complete 180° from what I voted for.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Exactly, with any trade, there are always folk that lose out, government needs to make those people whole. As I noted above, the costs of trade are narrow and acute.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: “You can’t always get what you want…”
susanna
I enthusiastically back what Blinken/Biden intend to implement (maybe the names best be reversed in order used). Thanks for this report, Cheryl. I’m still deciding which political blogs, and other news sources I’ll be following from now on, although temporarily I’m not reading anything besides BJ.
On a frivolous note, I liked seeing only the 2 flags in Blinken’s photo, rather than the unending amounts used for any T….p people, as if that made them stand out as the ‘true patriots – see all our flags!’ What a con!
Major Major Major Major
Thanks, Cheryl. Would’ve missed this.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Saw this bullshit slide across my dash just now
I don’t even know where to even begin with this shit. I don’t even know what the fucking bullshit about “violating emoluments clauses within the first month” is about. The president doesn’t have control over whether local schools reopen or not and vaccines are becoming available to teachers.
War crimes in Syria!? Biden ordered a strike against an Iranian-backed militia’s warehouse in retaliation. What about Russia deliberately attacking Syrian hospitals!?
There was little we could do against against MBS without causing consequences for us and our allies.
Major Major Major Major
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): have you considered not getting your political commentary on tumblr
WaterGirl
Video: A Foreign Policy for the American People
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Major Major Major Major:
Oh I usually don’t. It’s normally just fandom stuff. The people I follow are typically liberals like us and this person happened to respond to that “ubernegro”. I just had to share the stupid with y’all so we could all point and laugh
MisterForkbeard
@Major Major Major Major: I’ve seen similar (but not as bad) stuff from progressive friends on Facebook. Tumblr is ridiculous, but this isn’t limited to one platform. :(
I think portions of the progressive left are talking about everything they disagree with as a ‘massive betrayal’ just because they want to hate on Democrats. It’s the same people who claim that Biden is worse than Trump because he lied and only supports a $1400 payment instead of a $2000 payment (which is a lie, again) and then who want to ignore literally everything else in the covid bill. Or blame Biden for the Parliamentarian rule on the minimum wage and then Biden and all Democrats instead of 2 senators and all republicans for check eligibility changes, etc.
These idiots are not trying to hold anyone accountable. They’re trying to get people riled at democrats for some other reason.
There go two miscreants
@?BillinGlendaleCA: You’re right; I was thinking of benefits too narrowly — as in corporate profits — rather than the benefits that the general population derives.
Matt McIrvin
@MisterForkbeard: Meanwhile, Glenn Greenwald has announced that he considers Tucker Carlson a socialist. He literally insists that right-neofascists are to the left of the Democratic Party.
Baud
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Cancel them!
UncleEbeneezer
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Tear it up. Throw in trash. Go about your day.
Old School
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
My suspicion is that it is about Hunter Biden writing a book. But maybe OANN has been pushing something else that I haven’t heard about.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@MisterForkbeard:
I’ve noticed that they all tend to not read all of the details of something (something I’ve been guilty of in the past) before freaking out and screaming about betrayal. Or refuse to awknowledge the complexities of a given issue and just say “And. They. DIDN’T. EVEN. TRY!
And something can definitely be said about the US’ foreign policy of the past and the very nature of power itself. But any of these leftier than thou types would absolutely get their asses handed to them by the likes of Russia, China, KSA, etc because of how naive they all ar
I don’t think I’ve ever heard them talk about how they’d deal with autocratic countries like them. Hand them flowers? Write them a sternly worded letter or a speech at the UN?
Not to say I’m not all for multilateral orgs like the UN and using diplomacy. I am
The Thin Black Duke
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): It’s isn’t funny.
CaseyL
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
@Major Major Major Major:
Every day, in every way, I’m grateful that social media don’t reflect the real world, and also grateful that the Biden Administration pays little to no attention to it – nor to questions from the MSM based on what they’ve seen on social media.
RoseTwitter, along with RWNJ Twitter, are two “sources” that have no credibility whatsoever. More to the point, particularly regarding Rose Twitter, they don’t speak for any meaningful number of people.
Major Major Major Major
@MisterForkbeard: To be fair, all this talk about the parliamentarian is essentially a smokescreen for the fact that the dem caucus doesn’t have fifty votes for the minimum wage. If they had the votes and wanted it bad enough they could just overrule her. It’s been done before without destroying the reconciliation process!
Ruckus
It’s nice having a president who actually is trying to be a leader and understands that other people actually help and have good ideas and can formulate ways to make things better for more than themselves, and that we are part of the whole, not the whole in of itself.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@The Thin Black Duke:
Well, sorry then. I figured it was funny in the same sense we mock Republicans
Eolirin
@Major Major Major Major: Eh, if we had 50 votes to overrule the parilementarian, pretty sure we’d have 50 votes to gut the filibuster, and we wouldn’t need to be using reconciliation in the first place
We don’t have access to all the tactics Republicans can use.
cain
I hope not, that would be boring :D
kindness
We and most the world are happy with the change in administrations. Going forward though, it’ll be awfully tough to get other nations to join the US in hard problems. Problems that we ask everyone to fund or to feel the pain so it doesn’t fall on just a few. The problem America is going to face going forward is that the rest of the world now sees that all it takes to break hard fought agreements is one administration with it’s head up it’s ass. And American voters will never be trusted again. They voted in Trump and his band of carnival barkers who shredded everything and left everyone else holding the bag. I don’t know that we’ll ever be able to get back the trust we might once have had now that they see it can change in the blink of an election.
I’ve always thought if it takes 60 Senators to vote in a treaty, one President shouldn’t be able to tear up a treaty without 60 Senators approving that. It won’t happen even though it should. Our system has obvious holes in it and everyone across the globe sees those holes now.
cain
Didn’t Obama try to do that? Make coal miners changeit up and try other things. They didn’t want to do that. They just wanted to keep doing coal because that’s what their ancestors did.
Bill Arnold
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka):
Treat those people as Republicans to their faces. And/or maybe as pure enemies of the USA if there are any hints of foreign grammar from countries that are known to engage in US influence ops. If the invective is primarily against Democrats, then they are Republicans (in a two party system), at best. Perhaps they also want to destroy or cause the collapse of the USA; many do.
cain
@kindness:
Shit, that’s true for me – I don’t trust American voters either. I mean look at the utter mess and they are still doing stupid shit. I mean look at Georgia pushing a law for criminal liability for offering water to people waiting in line for voting.
It’s not even constitutional, they are just going nuts on voter suppression.
We are not out of the woods and I think the other nations are goign to be doing a “wait and see” because the House and the Senate can still flip and in 3.8 years we might be seeing a change of administration. We have a terrible fascism problem and we need to fix that.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@kindness:
Britain and Brexit. Brazil and Bolsonaro. France and Le Pen getting as many votes as she did that much of the French center had to form a unity party to beat her. Germany’s CDU and the SDP having to form a grand coalition to keep the fascist AfD out of power.
The US isn’t the only nation in the world that’s taken a hard right turn, y’know. The “rest of the world” isn’t in that great of shape either
Oh and we were also attacked by a hostile foreign power through disinformation to get Trump elected
MisterForkbeard
@Major Major Major Major: Right. We have something like 48-49 votes for the minimum wage in the Senate. Though the famous recent cases of overruling the parliamentarian are all Republican and we’re publicly advocating a return to ‘good’ government, IIRC.
But this isn’t a reflection on Biden. And it’s not even a reflection on “dems” in the senate. It’s a reflection on Republicans (100% opposed) and a very small proportion of Democrats (maybe 4% in the Senate).
You know how you get that fixed? You don’t attack the people trying to make it happen. You talk about the people blocking it. You go after Manchin, Sinema, Shaheen + the 50 Republicans stopping it. In the long term, you elect more people who will do the job – Democrats.
If you’re going to write off all Republicans as blameless and without agency, then you need more Democrats. It’s that simple.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@MisterForkbeard:
Exactly this
?BillinGlendaleCA
@MisterForkbeard: As they used to say in the early days over at the Great Orange Satan, “More and Better Democrats”.
Starfish
This thread on how a paper company declared bankruptcy after putting orders into smaller companies is fascinating because the big company is going to take down the smaller ones by not paying the bills.
It falls under the “how the big guys harm the little guys” theme.
Major Major Major Major
@Eolirin:
But we do! We just have different senators. And there’s a big difference between overruling the parliamentarian and getting rid of the filibuster, and no reason to assume 1 -> 2–as the Republican actions you just cited can attest to.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Major Major Major Major:
I didn’t say anything wrong, did I?
Burnspbesq
@?BillinGlendaleCA:
Yeah, but “more” needs to come first. If Louie Gohmert were a reliable Dem vote, I’d grit my teeth and support him.
StringOnAStick
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): Look at who has funded these antidemocratic turns in these countries, including ours: Putin. My fantasy is somehow this is exposed in such an obvious, people in the streets protesting Putin in all these countries, fashion that it becomes commonly accepted wisdom that tRump only won because of Putin’s malignant interference, BoJo the same, and all the rest. Make it clear that Putin was the puppet master and we’ve all cut the strings.
Moving to a green economy will hammer Russia’s power and MBS’s as well. I thought back in the 80’s that we needed to disempower the middle East by going green and adding the smirking KGB agent to the list of who loses only makes it more vital.
Mo MacArbie
I’m trying to think of who Blinken resembles in that still at the top. Bob Costas? No… Dave Barry? No… I know, Sy Sperling.
Major Major Major Major
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): er, no, why?
MisterForkbeard
@?BillinGlendaleCA: I always liked that formulation. Conservadems are not great. They are still infinitely better than Republicans.
MisterForkbeard
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): You gotta stop worrying about this stuff, man. :)
You’re good. You’re pretty much always good here.
The Moar You Know
@StringOnAStick: Putin’s not the puppet master. He was in 2016. He isn’t now.
Anyone can and will do what he did in 2016 next time, to any country that has internet and a reasonable social media presence. And they’ll do it far better if it’s their own country.
Major Major Major Major
@MisterForkbeard: As somebody who often has low self esteem I totally grok how young goku is scarred from upsetting somebody random two years ago, or whatever, but, not a great use of one’s time, no :)
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@MisterForkbeard:
I try. Thanks.
@Major Major Major Major:
The worst feeling in the world to me is knowing you alienated a friend by making an ass of yourself. I also care a great deal about my reputation and try to guard it as much as possible. I hate that because I was such a moron I made cornerstone regard me as a troll. Same with satby and she actually defended me to cornerstone.
Satby regarding me as a troll is much more recent and it hurts because I used to interact with her all the time. It’s my own fault tbf. Back in December she made me see patterns in my behavior that aren’t good and ones I’ve been trying to avoid since.
Geminid
@StringOnAStick: And now solar and wind electrical generation have achieved cost parity with the cheapest fossil fuel. Green energy is a job generator. U.Mass. economist Robert Pollin’s analysis is that for every fossil fuel job lost in a clean energy transition, three are gained. Some time spent researching clean energy, solar and wind power will show that the clean energy transition is already underway. It just needs to be turbocharged by substantial action at the federal level. We’ll get some out of the new Congress, although it will fall short of what we could do.
Major Major Major Major
@Goku (aka Amerikan Baka): There are commenters here who think *I’m* a troll, which just makes me post harder! Who cares what a handful of pseudonymous malcontents says.
brantl
@Burnspbesq:Louie Gohmert would need a brain implantation to be a democrat.
Martin
@Geminid: More than cost parity. Capex+operations of solar+battery is cheaper than the fuel cost of gas/coal at scale.