CNN —
President Joe Biden has had dozens of telephone conversations and multiple face-to-face meetings with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz during his term, all aimed at building a relationship based on democratic ideals and shared values. It’s about deepening.
In return, Mr. Scholz spent large sums of political capital on Mr. Biden. Freeing a Russian murderer from a German prison as part of a deal to free three Americans from Russia and relaxing long-standing defense policies that allow Ukraine to use German tanks to fight Russia. , came to Biden’s defense after his debate performance put an end to his political career.
“I think it’s a big mistake to underestimate the president,” Scholz told PBS ahead of the NATO 50th anniversary summit in Washington.
Scholz is expected to welcome the U.S. president to Berlin, a visit meant to advance urgent foreign policy priorities as well as a visit of sorts for Biden as his allies lose out of a tense race with Biden still by a narrow margin. will be offering a farewell tour. They emphasized alliances as a conduit for conflict resolution.
As part of the trip, Biden will meet with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Scholz, as well as discuss new U.S.-German exchange programs and “cooperation” between private investment and emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, a senior administration official said. He plans to announce a dialogue. Formal.
Mr. Biden’s meeting with the prime minister will be an opportunity to thank the German leader for his long-standing close partnership and discuss shared priorities on world issues, especially democratic institutions.
In addition to meeting with German leaders, Biden will also be joining forces with Britain, France and Germany in a “European Quad” meeting to discuss “pressing” global challenges, from plans for a victory in Ukraine to the ongoing crisis in the Middle East. He also plans to meet with leaders. said a senior official.
And as U.S. voters head to the polls in less than three weeks, the meeting comes at a critical juncture as Russia's war in Ukraine and the conflict between Israel and Hamas reach a tipping point, but the White House has not yet announced specifics. I don’t expect any policy changes. Results of Biden’s visit.
In a day of official talks, downgraded from an official state visit planned before Hurricane Milton hit the United States, Mr. Biden will have expanded discussions with Mr. Scholz and his team, as well as the leaders of France and the United Kingdom. There are plans to hold a summit meeting with the participation of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was scheduled to attend the meeting before it was postponed.
The summit’s agenda will focus on two key priorities for leaders, officials said. One is the growing challenge facing Ukraine, whose allies are at odds over how to respond to President Zelenskiy’s Victory Plan, and the escalating demands for long-range weapons. The situation in the Middle East is worsening as Israel plans to retaliate against Iran’s recent ballistic missile attack.
The “European Quad,” as Western officials are calling it, is a small group of smaller companies that Mr. It is just one part of a coalition government.
Biden instead opted for “minilateralism,” which foreign policy experts have come to call a strategy for dealing with small coalitions of like-minded countries.
On the policy front, the Biden administration has used this approach to rally support for sanctions against Russia and, more recently, Iran. tariffs and export restrictions on China, which the United States recently replaced as Germany’s largest trading partner; And hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure investments in Africa and Southeast Asia were aimed at creating a buffer against Beijing’s soft power.
Critics say these efforts have strengthened alliances but failed to deter adversaries. Fred Kempe, CEO of the Atlantic Council, said Biden has not taken enough decisive action to prevent a new axis of evil from forming against Western democracies. He said there was no.
“Ironically, it is precisely Biden’s vigilance that has encouraged the continued misbehavior of Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran,” Kempe wrote. “The response of the United States and its allies to increased cooperation among these countries has not resulted in actions that would frustrate their common cause.”
As Biden embarks on a farewell trip of sorts as he enters his final months in office, Germany is one of the countries where the president enjoys widespread popularity thanks to his policies.
A Pew Research Center poll of 34 countries on views of Biden found that 63% of German respondents expressed confidence in him. In Poland, another country that Biden’s aides are considering visiting to promote support for Ukraine, 70% of respondents expressed confidence in Biden.
In Kenya and the Philippines, two countries where governments are stepping up engagement and leading infrastructure projects to counter Chinese influence, trust has risen to 75% and 77%, respectively. Pew data shows.
In other parts of the world, Biden’s approval ratings have declined significantly, largely due to his response to the instability in the Middle East since October 7.
“It’s clear that what’s behind the marked decline from 2023 to 2024 is the perception of how he deals with that conflict,” said Richard Weick, director of global attitudes research at Pew. he says. “But overall, he still has higher ratings than Trump.”
With the U.S. presidential election less than three weeks away, Trump will be the elephant in any room where Biden meets with leaders. After Biden’s election in 2020, many people expressed relief behind the scenes. Biden often talks about how another head of state reacted when he declared at his first G7 summit that “America is back.”
And as CNN reported, diplomats privately expressed concern after Biden’s suspension of the debate appeared to give Trump a sudden lead in the election.
Now, as Europe considers the course of the Ukraine war that has been smoldering for years before Europe’s eyes, allies are seeking more aggressive tactics to end the war more quickly, as President Zelenskiy has advocated. We have to face the question of whether to support it or not, but we have failed.
The deliberations are far more difficult than when President Barack Obama assured his German and Greek allies a week ago during his last trip that President-elect Trump would not abandon them. It is held at a certain time. At a press conference with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, President Obama sought to identify some of the forces that led voters on both sides of the Atlantic to demand change, but issued broad warnings about what is to come. .
“We must guard against the rise of crude nationalism, built around ‘us’ and ‘them,’ ethnic identity and tribalism,” President Obama told reporters in Athens. Democracy. “The future of the world will be defined by what we have in common, not by what divides us and ultimately leads to conflict.”
