Even without using his predecessor’s foreign travels as a benchmark, U.S. President Joe Biden’s first overseas trip as president should be considered a success.
He was greeted with open arms at the G7 summit in England and in meetings with the European Union and NATO in Belgium. His meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin was sober, serious and gaffe-free. Biden could rightfully claim that “the United States is back.” The lingering question is: For how long?
Biden knows the value of the institutional architecture that his predecessors built. He recognizes that the G7, the EU and NATO are vital components of global order and that his country is, despite periodic frustrations, much better off with them than without. Biden also knows that those organizations need to be updated and modernized to address new challenges and the process of reform must be consensual: Washington cannot impose its will on its partners as it once may have.