Outgoing President Joe Biden sought to burnish his foreign policy record and said US adversaries are weaker than when he took office four years ago despite global crises that remain unresolved.
Biden told American diplomats in his final foreign policy speech that the United States is “winning the worldwide competition” in a new era of global economics and technology.
“The United States is winning the worldwide competition compared to four years ago,” said Biden, after diplomats at the State Department gave him a standing ovation.
Joe Biden said that America was stronger on the global stage than it had been for decades, in a swansong foreign policy speech one week before Donald Trump’s White House comeback.
The outgoing US president aimed at Russia, China, and Iran, and urged the West to maintain support for Ukraine in an address at the State Department setting out his international legacy.
But Biden’s unspoken target was Trump as he touted his rebuilding of international alliances over the last four years after his Republican rival’s chaotic first term.
“America is stronger. Our alliances are stronger, our adversaries and competitors are weaker.”
The Democrat added that America’s ties with its allies were the strongest “in decades,” and said partners in the NATO military alliance were now “paying their fair share.”
Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO countries, at one point saying he would encourage Russia to do “whatever the hell it wants” to allies that did not pay their way.
The incoming president has also previously expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin — but Biden mocked Putin over the progress of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“When Putin invaded, he thought he’d conquer Kyiv in a matter of days. The truth is, since that war began I’m the only one that stood in the center of Kyiv, not him,” said Biden.
