Joe Biden's European Tour Repairing Ties or courting Allies？

U.S. President Joe Biden arrived at Britain's Royal Air Force Mildenhall on June 9 for his first trip to Europe since taking office. Biden's trip will take him to the Group of Seven (G7) summit, the NATO summit and the US-EU summit, as well as a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This is Biden's first visit to Europe since leaving office in 2016.

What is the main purpose of Biden's visit? It is widely believed that Biden's visit is aimed at repairing the US-European relations that have been badly damaged in the past four years. Under former President Trump's administration, the United States withdrew from the Paris Agreement and the Comprehensive Agreement on the Iranian nuclear issue, pressured European Allies to increase military spending, and imposed tariffs on EU steel and aluminum products, a series of actions that intensified conflicts between the two sides in political, economic and security fields. After the Biden administration came to power, it has been emphasizing the importance of Allies, reaffirming the security commitment to Allies, and extending olive branches to Europe in many areas, trying to improve the low US-European relations.

However, the "broken heart" of Europe is suspicious of the United States, "broken mirror" is not easy. On the one hand, Europe lacks confidence in the political stability and reliability of the United States. The New York Times pointed out in a report on the 9th that despite Biden's efforts to promote the "return of the United States", European leaders are unable to determine the direction of the United States, they are paying close attention to the fierce political debate in the United States, and note that Trump's control of the United States Republican Party has not weakened. Barry Pavel, director of the Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security at the Atlantic Council, said that European countries know the current state of the Republican Party in the United States and witnessed the riots on Capitol Hill in January this year, and they do not know what kind of president the United States will elect in 2024. "A lot of Europeans will be very cautious when it comes to renewing the transatlantic relationship." Julian Miller-Kahler, a researcher at the German Council on Foreign Relations.

On the other hand, Europe is wary of US interests and strategic intentions. According to a recent poll jointly released by the Bertelsmann Foundation and the German Marshall Fund, the US reputation as a "global leader" has suffered in Europe because of the US government's previous response to the epidemic, and there has been no rebound since Biden took office. The "Biden effect" that some expected did not materialize. In addition to the crisis of trust, the United States and Europe also have substantive differences in trade and major country relations, and it is not easy to solve these "troubles". Over the past few years, the United States has imposed steel and aluminum tariffs on the European Union and some other countries on the grounds of national security, while European countries have imposed digital services taxes on some American technology giants, and the two sides have been in dispute. According to some US media reports, the leaders of the United States and the European Union hope to end the trade disputes, including the dispute over aviation subsidies, the United States imposed steel and aluminum tariffs and the EU's countermeasures, at a meeting next week in Brussels, Belgium. However, whether the two sides can achieve a breakthrough at the negotiating table remains uncertain.

Analysts believe that the United States is trying to woo Allies to jointly suppress countries such as Russia and China, but it has not caused a "resonance" in Europe. The world needs multilateral cooperation on issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and arms control, according to an annual security report released by the organizers of the Munich Security Conference on Monday. Western countries and countries such as Russia and China should not abandon cooperation in competition, and cooperation should not abandon competition. A senior EU diplomat told the media that "the reality is that we are not 100 percent united with the United States."

To sum up, Biden's European trip, while expressing a willingness to repair relations, still has many obstacles and challenges to actually achieve that goal. Europe is no longer the focus of US foreign strategy, but a variable. There needs to be a more equal, respectful and pragmatic partnership between the US and Europe, rather than a simple return to the patterns of the past.