If elected, Biden will need to repair foreign relations
For those of us expecting Joe Biden to win the upcoming presidential election and to begin repairing the damage that President Donald J. Trump has done to America’s domestic and foreign relations during his time in the White House, it shouldn’t be that long now for Americans and for our foreign interlocutors.
The first step will be a new secretary of state to replace Mike Pompeo. It is fair to say that Mr. Trump’s choice of Cabinet members has been one of the most dismal aspects of his presidency. Mr. Pompeo, with his lack of loyalty to his talented staff, is one of the worst, but he is just barely ahead of insensitive Education Secretary Betsy DeVos for last place.
If he wins, Mr. Biden needs to choose a secretary of state who has diplomatic, foreign affairs experience, definitely not some crony. There is a lot of repair work to do.
Early in his term, Mr. Biden will need to undertake travel, primarily to do some listening, which he is not particularly good at. But he will need to convince leaders of other key countries that, unlike Mr. Trump, he is cognizant of and ready to take into account, in return for their friendship and cooperation, their interests, not just America’s. This stuff is never just a one- way street. The best argument for any policy is that pursuing it is in both our interests. It needs to be laid out, with understanding.
The first stop for Mr. Biden, if elected, should be American neighbors Canada and Mexico. How Mr. Trump fell out with the leaders of both, through his big ungoverned mouth, is quite remarkable. Both countries have every reason for maintaining good relations with the United States, in spite of spats over trade, immigration or any other issues.
Our immigration policy needs work. That does not mean that we let everybody in, but Mexico doesn’t want that anyway. The Mexicans must be laughing their heads off at how good we have made them look on the human rights front by ripping babies away from their parents at our border. Immigration is definitely an area where U. S.- Mexican coordination could do a world of good.
Another major area that needs work after years of Mr. Trump mouthing off is our relations with our European allies. The point about NATO is that it has worked. Would anyone like to return to the bloody days of the two world wars in Europe in the 20th century? It is the close cooperation of NATO and good sense that have kept the peace in Europe in spite of the sometime growling of the Russian bear and some of the nonsense that has come out of the Balkans and Ukraine.
We have since World War II lived through trouble between Greece and Turkey, the explosive breakup of Yugoslavia, and fun and games in Ukraine without any of it expanding into continental war, as it once might have done.
What Mr. Biden can do is pour soothing syrup on the European waffle, assuring members that we still believe in NATO, even if it costs us money, if it does, and that we still see them, as democracies, as our best partners in this generally nasty world.
After an old college try, I think it is now time to let Kim Jong Un and his Democratic People’s Republic of Korea stew in their own juices for a while, telling him that if he fools around with nuclear weapons we will make him and his barber disappear.
As for Venezuela, I would quietly tell the other Latin American countries that it is their problem and remind anyone from outside who might think of messing in it, such as Russia, of the still- relevant Monroe Doctrine.
Decent relations with Russia, minus the complications presented by Mr. Trump’s electoral and financial links with it, should not be that difficult. Russia is, after all, massively strained economically and clearly unable to win militarily even on the eastern Ukraine, its home field.
China we just have to live with as it expands its role in the world. Years of coexistence with an ambitious Soviet Union should have provided us with a road map for such a relationship. It would be a mistake to think that we could bridle that donkey. It is already finding the limits to its ambitions in East Asia and elsewhere.
With China and Russia, Mr. Biden only has to stay in close touch with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, pay attention to his intelligence briefings and stay on the ball. It’s not that hard, and it’s much more interesting than golf.