When President Biden addresses world leaders at the United Nations on Tuesday morning, aides promise he will deliver a speech full of declamations about America’s role in shaping the future.
They say President Trump will “reaffirm American leadership,” “rally global action” and “provide a vision for how the world must come together to face our most pressing challenges.”
But the truth is that Biden is speaking at a time of deep uncertainty about the future of America’s role in the world, with the war in Ukraine, escalating conflict in the Middle East and growing economic competition with China.
Biden has vowed to continue pursuing a ceasefire that could end the fighting in Gaza, and his national security advisers are working hard to forestall a broader war with Hezbollah in Lebanon. In Ukraine, Biden still faces urgent decisions, including whether to allow U.S. long-range weapons to be used for strikes deep inside Russia.
But there is uncertainty about America’s long-term intentions. Vice President Kamala Harris has largely endorsed Biden’s views on the importance of strategic alliances, but her specific policy positions have yet to come into focus as she campaigns against a looming deadline. Former President Donald J. Trump, while boasting about his diplomatic skills, promised a return to “America First” isolationism.
World leaders are gathering at the United Nations as multiple global crises collide with American politics and could change how America tackles some of the world’s toughest problems.
“For a world now watching the war in Ukraine, the war in Gaza and the possible outbreak of war in Lebanon, the U.S. position on this issue is crucial and also outside their control,” said John B. Alterman, director of the Middle East program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.
For leaders of other countries, figuring out where America is headed after the November election is “one of the most important parts of their strategic calculations,” Alterman said.
To that end, many leaders are rushing to meet with all current or future US leaders – Biden, Harris and Trump – during or after their visit to New York for the UN General Assembly this week.
The vice president held private talks with United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed at the White House on Monday afternoon, just hours after a similar meeting between the Emirati leader and Biden. Officials said Biden and Harris are expected to address escalating violence in Israel and the UAE’s involvement in the conflict in Sudan, respectively.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is scheduled to meet with Biden in the Oval Office on Thursday, the day after Biden speaks at the United Nations. Later that day, Zelensky is scheduled to meet separately with Harris at the White House, a sign of Zelensky’s desire to strengthen his one-on-one relationship with Harris in case she wins the presidential election in November.
After the meeting, White House aides said the White House has no plans for further discussions between Harris and foreign leaders or for her to travel outside the United States before Election Day, as she remains fully focused on the election campaign.
There has also been speculation about a possible meeting between Trump and Zelensky, but the former president’s spokesman said Monday there was nothing to announce.
Trump has made no secret of the flurry of recent meetings with world leaders at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida. On Sunday, he posted about his meetings with the emir and prime minister of Qatar, a country deeply involved in peace talks between Israel and Hamas.
The Emir “has made progress at all levels in record time and proven himself to be a great and strong leader for his country,” Trump wrote on social media after the meeting. “He is also someone who strongly believes in peace in the Middle East and around the world. We have had a great relationship while I was in the White House and it will be even stronger this time!”
During his presidency, Trump frequently questioned the need for decades-old alliances like NATO and abandoned newer ones like the Paris Climate Accord and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
Now leaders in Europe, Asia and Africa are reading the picture, trying to predict what the future may hold.
Will it be Harris’ interpretation of what Biden called “a shared desire for the world to work together” — or will it mean a return to hyperbolic threats like those made by Trump when he told the United Nations that “we may have no choice but to totally destroy North Korea”?
The stakes are high.
As the war between Ukraine and Russia enters its third year, Europe is actively grappling with the question of its own security and whether it should abandon its longstanding reliance on the United States as a guarantee against Russian aggression — a debate that is likely to accelerate if Trump becomes president again.
Biden is due to take part in a Security Council meeting on Ukraine on Tuesday that will also include Zelensky, a moment that will underscore how Biden has managed to rally much of the world to Ukraine’s side after Russia’s 2022 aggression.
In the Middle East, Biden’s unwavering support for Israel has further isolated him among the rest of the world.
His diplomatic efforts have failed to end hostilities in Gaza following an October Hamas attack that left more than 1,200 people dead and hundreds trapped. In Lebanon, a recent escalation of violence between Israel and Hezbollah has included Israeli missile attacks and pager explosions that have injured thousands of Hezbollah fighters, raising fears of an escalating war.
White House national security spokesman John F. Kirby said the president’s UN address would lay out “a vision for how the world should come together to solve these big problems and uphold fundamental principles, including the U.N. Charter.”
The question for leaders in the audience is whether that vision will continue beyond Jan. 20, Alterman said.
“The general stance on ‘how the world works and what role the United States should play in it’ seems to me to be similar between Harris and Biden, but fundamentally different between Biden and Trump,” he said.
