Experienced diplomat Daniel Baer has an informative post at Foreign Policy on what the Biden Administration has accomplished in European foreign policy since taking office:
In fact, the trans-Atlantic partners have been busier than they look. Biden halted the precipitous removal of more than 10,000 U.S. soldiers from Germany that former U.S. President Donald Trump ordered in an apparent fit of anger after Merkel rejected his invitation to Camp David for an in-person G-7 meeting in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. In June, an agreement was reached to suspend the 17-year-long Boeing-Airbus dispute that had metastasized into a vicious trade conflict and led to new tariffs during the Trump administration. To better align U.S. and European security strategy, NATO launched the process of developing a new strategic framework to modernize the alliance’s approach to 21st century threats, including those from outside the trans-Atlantic area. At the United Nations General Assembly, the United States and European Union announced new COVID-19 vaccine donations to poorer countries on top of the commitments already made through the U.N.-led COVAX facility, with a goal of reaching 70 percent global vaccination by next September.
More is on the way: Biden and his EU counterparts agreed earlier this year to launch a U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council. It’s a new mechanism that reflects both sides’ recognition that the digital economy and emerging technologies increasingly define the trans-Atlantic economic relationship, affect an ever-broader set of issues (including security), and require special effort from policymakers because the issues involved are often technical and complex, which means policies can lag far behind the pace of innovation. The council kicked off with a high-level meeting in Pittsburgh last month, includes working groups staffed by technical experts, and has adopted an agenda that includes coordinated efforts on investment screening and export controls, artificial intelligence, semiconductors, trade barriers, and workers’ rights.
The summits, photo ops, and joint statements that made up Biden’s first trip last summer were symbolically important: They set the tone and strategic orientation. But the follow-up work is harder. The policy issues the United States and Europe need to work on together—within NATO, at European Union-level, in bilateral partnerships—are complex, technical, and time-consuming. The fact that it takes time to produce high-profile outcomes is less a sign of a troubled relationship than a reflection of a robust agenda.
That’s certainly an optimistic view which I found rather refreshing under the circumstances. I wish Mr. Baer dealt with the subject a bit more critically. Should we have those 10,000 soldiers in Germany? What is the nature of the Boeing-Airbus dispute and which is more in the U. S. interest: continuing it or ending it? Most of the rest of his list are more process-y than that. We’ll know more about them when they actually produce results. Alternatively, it’s a bit too much inside baseball. Launching a “U. S.-EU Trade and Technology Council” is an accomplishment if you’re a diplomat. For the rest of us what such a council produces would be the accomplishment.
