President Joe Biden’s first foreign engagements seem promising, even if they are limited to the online environment because of the restrictions imposed by a pandemic whose causes, manifestations, effects, and duration are yet to be entirely known.

During his online appearances at the G7 Summit and the Munich Security Conference that took place late last week, the new American president emphatically stated that the USA was returning as global leader, and as trusted partner for its allies.

Joe Biden’s messages probably included everything the allies of the USA have been waiting for four years – he reconfirmed the transatlantic link and the USA’s commitment to NATO, the values of democracy, as well as the economic, security and environment cooperation. In short, America’s return to multilateralism.

The new American president also announced a change in Washington’s approach and attitude with regard to Russia (which he called a destabilizing factor on an international level), in contrast with his predecessor, Donald Trump; however, he also indicated a certain continuity as far as China was concerned.

Beyond their reassuring nature, though, the messages of the new US President should be viewed from a realistic point of view.

Thus, on one hand, the intention to reposition America as a global leader and to recommit it as a multilateral player was announced, last week as well, through two relevant actions:

• The Munich Security Conference was also used as an opportunity by the Biden Administration to announce the US rejoining the Paris Agreement.
• Three days before, an official with the Health Department announced that the USA was to transition from observer, to member of the COVAX Council, an initiative co-chaired by the World Health Organization whose objective was the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccines globally (the USA has allotted 4 billion USD worth of funds for this global effort).

On the other hand, it remains to be seen to what extent America will succeed in being what its president committed to.

And the most edifying tests in this respect could be two of the issues the Biden Administration has already voiced about. The first is climate change, where a position and especially a collective commitment to countering them internationally are very difficult to imagine without the cooperation of America’s adversaries – China (most of all, since this country is the number one producer of carbon monoxide in the world) and Russia.

The second is represented by the Iranian nuclear programme. Secretary of state Antony Blinken suggested, the day before the two international events mentioned above, that the USA would return to the negotiating table on the Iranian nuclear programme; however, according to the official transcripts of the phone call President Joe Biden had (the very same day) with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the terms of the US’ re-engagement in the process would also depend on Israel.