President Joe Biden’s summer of love with Europe appears to have come to an abrupt end.
After promising European leaders that “America is back” and that multilateral diplomacy would guide U.S. foreign policy, Biden has angered numerous allies with a go-it-alone approach on key issues, the latest being a new security initiative for the Indo-Pacific that notably excluded France and the European Union.
Some have compared Biden’s recent actions to those of his predecessor, Donald Trump, under Trump’s “America First” doctrine. That’s surprising for a president steeped in international affairs who ran for the White House vowing to mend shaken ties with allies and restore U.S. credibility on the world stage.
Although it’s impossible to predict if any damage will be lasting, the short-term impact seems to have rekindled European suspicions of American intentions — with potential implications for Biden’s broader aim to unite democracies against authoritarianism, focused primarily on China and Russia.
