WASHINGTON: Outg­oing US president Joe Biden will give a swansong foreign policy speech on Monday, claiming America is far stronger than when Donald Trump left office, a senior US official disclosed on Friday.

Biden’s address at the State Department one week before he leaves the White House is expected to highlight his efforts to boost Nato alliance and to support Ukraine against Russia’s invasion. He will also focus on efforts to broaden US alliances in the Asia-Pacific region to challenge an increasingly dominant China, and to combat climate change.

“When President Biden entered office, our alliances had been badly damaged,” a senior Biden administration official said on condition of anonymity. “During his remarks, President Biden will outline how our alliances and partnerships are the strongest they’ve ever been thanks to our work.”

The official said Biden would also highlight how he “stood with Israel when they’ve been attacked” but made no mention of any progress towards a peace deal in Gaza. Biden, 82, is also set to give a wider farewell address in his final days in power before Trump’s comeback to the White House on Jan 20.

Trump has already promised a return to the ‘provocative’ foreign policy that marked his first term. The billionaire Republican has talked in recent weeks about meeting the leaders of US adversaries Russia and China, while pledging to end the war in Ukraine by any means necessary.

He has also browbeaten some of US’s closest allies, threatening to withdraw support for Nato, and making threats against Green­land and Panama.

Published in Dawn, January 11th, 2025