The speech delivered by US President Joe Biden on February 4 summarized the features of the foreign policy that he intends to implement, and emphasized that there is no longer a dividing line between foreign and domestic policy.

In a report published by the American "Foreign Policy" magazine, writer James Crabtree said that skeptics in the left wing of the Democratic Party fear that these promises are weak given Biden's known enthusiasm for free trade, but that does not prevent us from taking this agenda on top. Seriously, it reflects traditional progressive concerns about the impact of trade on labor standards and the environment, and urges officials like National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to reconsider the costs that two decades of hyper-globalization have imposed on American society, as Crabtree says.

Despite the importance of this review, it poses for Biden a new foreign policy dilemma. The president wants to support workers at home and reassert economic leadership abroad at the same time, especially Asia, but these two goals are in conflict.

US and China relations

At the heart of this dilemma is the United States' relationship with China, and policymakers - such as Kurt Campbell, Biden's chief adviser on Asia - want to deal with Beijing by reviving the Asian alliances and partnerships that were damaged under former President Donald Trump.

The United States used its security and economic influence to conclude projects such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, but the American economic influence in Asia is declining, at a time of rapidly growing influence of China, which is making a great effort to replace Washington in defending the liberalization of regional trade and integration.

Indeed, implementing Biden's inward-focused agenda will make it difficult to advance the economic and trade policies that would attract partner nations in Asia to rebuild the broader economic influence of the United States.

The writer said that Biden's plans are based on rejecting and accepting Trump's legacy at the same time.

Biden's advisers were critical of Trump's approach, and at a time when officials - such as US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer - worked to strike deals with China, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was imposing new restrictions on Beijing.

Now, Biden's candidate to represent American trade will work to reform the domestic social fabric of the United States, and according to what she told Foreign Policy magazine last year - Jennifer Harris, an official under former President Barack Obama, "Washington cannot devise a grand strategy to the fullest." If you made a mistake in setting an appropriate economic policy. "

Policymakers want to deal with Beijing by reviving the Asian alliances and partnerships that have damaged the Trump era (Shutterstock)

Trade policy

However, Biden’s advisers now acknowledge at least some of Trump’s criticism of globalization. Conservative economists have often said that trade promotes growth, leaving enough gains to compensate the losers from increased competition, but in practice this compensation did not happen, as US consumers enjoyed cheap imported goods. And the benefits were minimal compared to the higher competition costs imposed on certain industries and societies.

Despite Biden's defense of it at the time, agreements - such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement - are now seen as excessively serving the interests of companies and shareholders, opening markets to banks and drug giants, while doing little to prevent them from accumulating money in tax havens or returning Localize its headquarters.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement included measures to protect the environment and employment, but did not address important issues such as currency manipulation or respect for technology standards.

Meanwhile, trade policy has done little to combat opaque financial structures that facilitate money laundering and corruption, allowing the corrupt to thrive.

The writer generally supports the review of trade policy, considering moving away from Trump's "destructive" policies as a good start, especially since his tariffs on China cost Americans about a quarter of a million jobs, but controversy still exists over whether trade policy - and not technology - is the cause of problems. It has hit the middle class in recent decades.

Nevertheless, it was clear that the fact of stagnant income, along with perceptions of unfair trade policy, were among the causes of the political instability holding back the American political system.

On the other hand, talk about this issue in Asia is a bad omen. Before Trump, the United States was the main partner for trade exchanges with Asians, and the most important advocate of free trade policies that many regional leaders felt would improve their chances of economic development.

And now, the US role in the region has declined, and in the meantime China has prospered after its rapid recovery from the repercussions of the epidemic, and Beijing's successful completion of the "Comprehensive Regional Economic Partnership" agreement - which includes 15 countries in the Asia-Pacific region without the United States - is an affirmation of China's important role, and It is a regional commercial champion.

Beijing's successful completion of the "Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership" agreement confirms its role as a regional trade champion (European News Agency)

The American role declined

Southeast Asian countries see themselves more dependent on China for growth. Even faithful US allies - such as Japan and South Korea - are wary of China's mounting geopolitical power, and acknowledge financial interdependence with Beijing, and almost no one wants to be in Australia's position. It is facing economic sanctions imposed by Beijing over allegations of national security insults.

Some of Washington’s partners in Asia may be more willing to support the US’s attempts to contain China in the event that it is economically beneficial. US foreign policy analysts have often seen trade agreements as an essential means to support lasting security relations, but Biden’s talk about rebuilding the middle class is a sign. It is clear that China's trade transactions with the United States will become more difficult than before, not the other way around.

Few Asian countries are enthusiastic about the requirements to add more workers' rights to trade deals, or to submit to other more restrictive requirements in other areas, such as state-owned companies. According to Deborah Elms, a policy expert at the Asian Trade Center in Singapore, political leaders (Southeast Asia) They want new markets for exports, not to interfere from outside, which is what makes China now an easy partner to deal with. "

Both Sullivan and Campbell recognize that Washington now needs to develop a new economic agenda that attracts Asian partners, but that their options are limited.

For his part, Biden stresses that he will not conclude any new commercial deals until the "Covid-19" pandemic is brought under control.

But even then the policy will be fraught with risks.

Ultimately, the Biden team will conclude that the agreements must be rejoined again, given the scarcity of better options.