Joe Biden said Monday that the US is stronger on the global stage than it has been in decades, in a foreign policy speech a week before Donald Trump returns to the White House.
The outgoing US president took aim at Russia, China and Iran and urged the West to maintain support for Ukraine in an address marking his international legacy at the State Department.
But Biden’s undisclosed target was Trump as he talked about rebuilding international alliances over the past four years after his Republican rival’s chaotic first term.
“The United States is winning the worldwide competition more than it did four years ago,” Biden said after receiving a standing ovation from State Department diplomats.
“America is strong. Our alliances are strong, our adversaries and competitors are weak.”
The Democrat said America’s relations with its allies were the strongest “in decades,” and said partners in the NATO military alliance are now “paying their fair share.”
Trump has repeatedly criticized NATO countries, at one point saying he would encourage Russia to do “whatever it wants” with allies that do not pay their dues.
The incoming president has previously expressed admiration for Russian President Vladimir Putin — but Biden mocked Putin over the progress of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Biden said, “When Putin invaded, he thought he would conquer Kiev in a matter of days. The truth is that since the war started, I am the only person who stood in the center of Kiev, he No.”
By making a top-secret visit to the Ukrainian capital in 2023, Biden becomes the first sitting US president to visit a battlefield not controlled by the US military.
He said the United States and its allies “cannot turn away” from Ukraine, to which Washington has sent billions of dollars of military aid since the war began in 2022.
– China will not be able to overtake America –
“There is still much more to do,” Biden said.
Trump has vowed to reach a Russia-Ukraine peace deal “in 24 hours” and there are fears in Kiev that he could force a ceasefire under which Ukraine would cede territory to Moscow.
Biden, meanwhile, insisted that China “will never be able to overtake us” and that the United States will remain the world’s dominant superpower.
“According to the latest predictions, on China’s current course they will never be able to overtake us,” Biden said.
He said Washington had managed its complex relationship with Beijing and that the relationship “never descended into conflict” in his four years as president.
Biden’s speech on Israel’s war in Gaza was more restrained, with his administration facing criticism within his own party for its support of Israel.
But he said the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release agreement were “on the verge of finally coming to fruition”.
Democrats also defended another major foreign policy failure — the fall of Afghanistan’s U.S.-backed government to the Taliban and America’s bloody withdrawal in 2021.
Biden said, “Ending the war was the right thing to do. And I believe history will reflect that.”
The 82-year-old president ultimately urged the Trump administration to continue Biden’s green energy policies, saying climate deniers under Trump were “absolutely wrong” and “came from a different century.”
Biden’s foreign policy speech will be followed by a farewell address to the nation from the Oval Office in primetime on Wednesday.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
