Biden’s Excellent Week of International Leadership

American national interests are best defended through leadership and engagement with multilateral organizations, like the G-7, not unilateralism and isolationism.

As readers of my Substack know, I am a supporter of President Biden and his foreign team, but also, at times, a critic, trying to nudge the administration and the American people in directions that I believe serve our national interests. Sometimes, though, President Biden hits it out of the park. Last week was one of those weeks. At the G-7 summit in Italy, American leadership was at its best. This past week was also a reminder to us all that our interests might not be as well represented, should a different president get elected this year.

Biden did his best work on Ukraine this week. 

First, he led the G-7 into agreeing to use frozen Russian funds in Western banks as collateral for a $50 billion loan to the government of Ukraine. More precisely, the G-7 leaders agreed to use the interest earned from these frozen assets to underwrite this loan. It is a brilliant idea. It would not have happened without Biden’s leadership. Bravo.

Second, even before arriving at the G-7 meeting, the Biden administration announced a new major package of sanctions against Russia and its trading partners, designed primarily to reduce the flow of technology to Russian companies building weapons. You can read the full details of these measures here. This package included sanctions against third parties – so-called “secondary sanctions” – supplying technology to the Russian industrial complex, including Chinese firms. The Biden administration also announced “steps to restrict access to certain U.S. software and information technology services, to crack down on diversion of goods through shell companies, and to more extensively restrict exports to entities that supply Russia with U.S.-branded items produced overseas.” Our International Working Group on Russian Sanctions has been recommending many of the ideas for a long time. (You can find all our papers here.) I was thrilled to see Biden take these actions too. Bravo

G7 Leaders Summit 2024 | Photo by Antonio Masiello via Getty Images

Third, President Biden and President Zelenskyy signed a new security agreement in Italy last week, which spelled out a long-term plan for cooperation in many areas over the next decade. Before the G-7 summit, Zelenskyy had signed several similar agreements with other countries, but the U.S. agreement was considered the most critical. Bravo.

Of course, there is always more to be done. I celebrate G-7’s decision to use the interest from Russian frozen assets to support this loan, but I also think that all of the Russian assets frozen in Western banks should eventually be given to Ukraine.    The new sanctions package was comprehensive, but the Biden administration now needs to convince other democratic countries to do the same. And next month, they should announce another package. And another one in August. Every month, sanctions should be ratcheted up until Putin ends his invasion. Moreover, it is terrific that the United States and Ukraine signed a new security agreement, but Ukraine’s membership in NATO is a much bigger goal – an action that I hope Biden will lead on the day after a peace agreement or armistice is signed. But first things first. This bucket of “deliverables” –  a word I learned while working at the State Department – from last week is remarkable.  Congratulations to President Biden and his national security team.

More generally, Biden demonstrated what the democratic world an do when they act together: support Ukraine, forge common strategies within the G-7 regarding a joint call for a comprehensive deal in Gaza, maintain unity in Asia in dealing with unfair PRC economic practices, keep the peace in Taiwan, and develop common approaches to reducing global debt and fostering development around the world, through initiatives like the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGI).   

These collective actions can only happen if the United States is engaged and leading. The autocrats have their clubs, usually led by China. They coordinate on a whole lot of issues, including aiding Russia in its war. To defend American national interests in our new era of great power competition, the United States must do the same. We can advance our interests alone against China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. But we are much better off managing and, at times, confronting the rise of these autocratic regimes if we do so in concert and coordination with other powerful democracies.

Biden understands the value of democratic allies and U.S. leadership and engagement in multilateral institutions for advancing American security, prosperity, and values. Trump does not. During his four years in office, the former president practiced what I called the Trump Withdrawal Doctrine. He pulled the United States out of many key international agreements and organizations, including the Paris Climate Accord, the Iran nuclear deal, the TransPacific Partnership (TPP), the INF Treaty with Russia, the World Health Organization, and threatened to withdraw from NATO. As president, he did not support democratic countries, democratic ideas, or democratic activists around the world; in fact, he often praised dictators, including Vladimir Putin.   From what we have heard about his plans for a second term, Trump promises to be even more unilateral, isolationist, and disruptive to our partnerships and treaties with democracies.

Biden’s masterful diplomacy this week demonstrated the value of American leadership and engagement in the world, especially with the free world, and underscored what we will lose if Mr. Trump returns to power.