As president, Joe Biden will seek to re-establish US global leadership through serious engagement and cooperation; at a global level, climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic, and nuclear weapons are three areas where he sees cooperation as essential.
European governments welcome the prospect of more cooperative and professional transatlantic relations to tackle global challenges and security issues in the neighbourhood. However, differences over burden-sharing, relations with China, and economic policies – in particular regarding the digital transformation – remain.
The Biden administration’s policies in the Indo-Pacific will focus on reinforcing alliances and partnerships and developing the military capabilities to defend the regional order, while aiming for issue-based cooperation with China. Even so, a tougher line against Beijing will remain.
For the Nordic states, Biden’s overall increased focus on multilateralism and the transatlantic relationship is unquestionably a positive change, even if the new administration is unlikely to radically change direct bilateral relations, which, on the whole, are good.
