In Big Speech, Biden Shares Slew of Foreign Policy Shifts

President gives his first diplomatic address
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 5, 2021 1:30 AM CST
Biden: 'America Is Back'
President Joe Biden speaks about foreign policy, at the State Department, Thursday, Feb. 4, 2021, in Washington.   (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

In his first diplomatic address since becoming president, Joe Biden on Thursday declared that "America is back" on the global stage, Reuters reports. "American leadership must meet this new moment of advancing authoritarianism, including the growing ambitions of China to rival the United States and the determination of Russia to damage and disrupt our democracy," he said during a visit to the State Department with Vice President Kamala Harris. "We must meet the new moment ... accelerating global challenges from the pandemic to the climate crisis to nuclear proliferation." Biden also specifically called out Myanmar, urging military leaders there to put an end to the coup, and said the US will no longer support the Saudi Arabia-led military campaign in Yemen.

He also announced troop redeployments from Germany will be frozen, the limit on refugees allowed to enter the US will be increased, and US support for LGBTQ+ rights around the globe will be reaffirmed, CNN reports. "We are a country that does big things," he said. "American diplomacy makes it happen and our administration is ready to take up the mantle and lead once again." In a reference to former President Trump, Biden noted on Russia, "I made it clear to President Putin, in a manner very different from my predecessor, that the days of the United States rolling over in the face of Russia’s aggressive actions, interfering with our elections, cyberattacks, poisoning its citizens, are over." The Atlantic Council offers key takeaways from the speech here. (More President Biden stories.)

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