The president’s visit to Europe isn’t about trade deals but repairing US domestic politics
During his first trip abroad as US president last week, Joe Biden kept telling Europe that “the US is back”. Before the G7 meeting, Biden signed a new Atlantic charter with Boris Johnson that agreed to protect democracy and open societies. After Cornwall, he went on to more meetings in Brussels with the European Union, as well as a Nato summit and a head to head with Vladimir Putin in Geneva. Past presidents have viewed the EU as an irrelevant bureaucracy or a sinister threat. Biden described it as an “incredibly strong and vibrant entity”.
In his press conference with Emmanuel Macron, Biden seemed to promise that the US was returning to its normal role in international politics. After Donald Trump, some nostalgic politicians might even hope for a reinvigoration of the so-called rules-based liberal order which has purportedly prevailed since the second world war.
Related: Five things we learned from the Biden-Putin summit in Geneva
Related: Nato summit: leaders declare China presents security risk
Henry Farrell is the Stavros Niarchos Foundation professor of international affairs at Johns Hopkins University, Maryland