Biden officially announces ‘America is back’ at Munich Security Conference

By Jacob Coffelt

Joe Biden delivered an impassioned speech on Friday at the Munich Security Conference on the new direction of US Foreign Policy in what marked a radical departure from the trajectory of the Trump administration.

‘Reclaiming our Place in International Institutions’

While nobody was shocked by the direction the Biden administration is taking in terms of Foreign Policy, this was his first real address to the International Community and he made sure his position was clear “America is back”.

Part of the Biden administration’s platform which they ran on during the presidential election was based on the idea of America being a global leader and not sliding into isolationism. So far it seems he plans to do this by supporting more integrated global markets and the easing of mutually harmful tariffs between America’s major trading partners such as Europe and China. As well as by re engaging with it’s strategic allies and global partnerships in order to maintain it’s position of influence in international affairs.

‘A long road ahead’

This comes as a relief to major allies of the US as well as international institutions which faced uncertain futures under the Trump administration. However, a lot of damage has been done to America’s credibility as a reliable partner in global affairs and this won’t be easy to fix.

The Biden administration has began working towards implementing a cohesive strategy for handling Diplomatic Relations post-Trump. His speech at the Munich security conference is just an example of other initiatives he has announced support for.

He has revoked US support for Saudi Arabia's war in Yemen, as well as entered into negotiations with Iran over the JCPOA nuclear deal which Donald Trump pulled out of in 2018.

Some skepticism still remains over whether the Biden administration is sincere in its promises to support the International community and punish human rights violators. The Obama administration’s record on unequally enforcing human rights standards was not much better than the Trump administrations. And considering Joe Biden was second in command, some of these criticisms are valid.

Ultimately, Joe Biden has only been in office for 1 month and has already began making promising moves towards reintegrating the United States with the International Community. However, only time will tell if his actions end up supporting his rhetoric.