Biden’s First Hundred Days
Apr 30, 2021RICHARD N. HAASS
Former President Donald Trump's attacks on free trade and immigration,
narrow “America First” view of the world, and bias toward retrenchment have
become part of the US political fabric. As Joe Biden's first hundred days in
office have shown, the one thing American presidents cannot control is the
context in which they operate.
WASHINGTON, DC – Joe Biden has been
president of the United States for one hundred days, less than 7% of the time
he was elected to serve. Still, it is not too soon to draw some tentative
conclusions about the nature of his presidency.
Biden’s principal accomplishment to date
is the expansion of the COVID-19 vaccine supply and the acceleration of
domestic immunization. Some 220 million doses have been administered in the US
since Biden took office. There is more than enough supply to ensure that every
adult can be vaccinated. The daily death toll from the disease has fallen from
over 4,000 per day to well under 1,000. The economy is poised to take off, with
some even worrying that it could overheat.
In these same hundred days, the basic
themes of the Biden presidency, articulated in his April 28 address
to Congress, have emerged: an emphasis on tackling domestic
challenges, a vastly expanded role for the federal government in both
stimulating the economy and in providing basic services and financial support
for citizens, and a commitment to confront racism, modernize infrastructure, increase
the country’s competitiveness, and combat climate change. There is also a
willingness to raise taxes on corporations and the wealthy to pay for some of
what these initiatives will cost. How much of this agenda can be realized
remains to be seen; for now, comparisons between Biden and Franklin Delano
Roosevelt or Lyndon B. Johnson are understandable but somewhat premature.
Much of what Biden has done or wants to
do represents a sharp departure from his predecessor, Donald Trump, and is
popular with many Americans. On immigration, however, Biden’s approach is
proving otherwise. His messaging is seen by some as partly responsible for the
surge in people trying to enter the US via its southern border. Meanwhile,
ceilings on refugee admissions are too high for many Republicans and not high
enough for many Democrats.
It is on foreign policy, though, where
the comparisons with Trump are the most interesting. At first glance, Biden
could not be more different. He embraces multilateralism and has brought the US
back into the World Health Organization and the Paris climate agreement. And
his administration is working to reboot the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that
Trump unilaterally exited.
Biden has also restored traditional
allies and alliances to a core position in US foreign policy. He has already
hosted Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in Washington and will make his
first overseas trip to Europe in June for the G7 summit. No American troops
will be withdrawn from Germany, something Trump had announced he would do. And
the Biden administration has made human rights a centerpiece of its foreign
policy, regularly criticizing Russia and China, sanctioning Myanmar, and
publishing a report that holds Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
responsible for the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
But there is more foreign-policy
continuity between Biden and Trump than first meets the eye. Take Afghanistan,
where the difference between them amounts to just over four months: Trump
signed a pact with the Taliban that committed the US to withdraw all its
military forces by May 1; Biden has committed to do so by September 11. Just as
important, Biden echoed Trump’s insistence that the calendar, not local
conditions, would determine the timing of the US military withdrawal.
There is considerable continuity when it
comes to policy toward China as well. One no longer hears calls for regime
change, but the one high-level diplomatic contact between US and Chinese
officials could hardly have been less diplomatic. Meanwhile, the Biden
administration has kept tariffs and export controls in place, continued to send
US warships to challenge China’s claims in the South China Sea, repeated the
description of Chinese actions in Xinjiang as genocide, sanctioned Chinese
officials, and maintained high-level contacts with Taiwan.
As for trade, what is consistent is the
lack of initiative. Missing from an otherwise robust policy toward China is any
sign that the US is reconsidering its unwillingness to join Asia-Pacific
regional trade groupings. Instead, there is a continued commitment to “Buy
American” along with talk about foreign policy for the middle class, an
otherwise empty slogan that suggests trade will remain a low priority given how
controversial it remains with many Americans.
Even on COVID-19, the Biden presidency
has embraced something of an “America First” approach when it comes to sharing
(or, rather, refusing to share) American-produced vaccines with the rest of the
world. This is belatedly changing, with a commitment to share an untapped
supply of the AstraZeneca vaccine with others. But the shift is limited, and
the delay has provided strategic openings to China and Russia, slowed economic
recovery around the world, increased hardship, and given COVID-19 variants more
opportunity to emerge and gain traction.
In short, while Trump is no longer in
the Oval Office, Trumpism still looms large. His attacks on free trade and
immigration, promotion of a narrow “America First” view of the world, and bias
toward retrenchment are now and for the foreseeable future part of the
political fabric. The country remains polarized; Congress is nearly evenly
divided. This leaves Biden limited room for maneuver as he seeks to promote
democracy, conduct diplomacy, and reinvigorate global institutions.
Like all American presidents, Biden
still enjoys considerable power and influence. But, as his first hundred days
have shown, the one thing American presidents cannot control is the context in
which they operate.
FEATURED
Apr 12, 2021 EDOARDO CAMPANELLA
Apr 9, 2021 DANI RODRIK
Apr 9, 2021 JOHN ANDREWS
Apr 6, 2021 DANIEL GROS
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Writing for PS since 2020
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Richard Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, previously
served as Director of Policy Planning for the US State Department (2001-2003),
and was President George W. Bush's special envoy to Northern Ireland and
Coordinator for the Future of Afghanistan. He is the author of The World: A Brief Introduction (Penguin Press,
2020).
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