WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Soon after taking office, President Joe Biden to tell the rest of the world that the United States could be counted on again after four years of Donald Trump鈥檚 bull-in-the-china-shop foreign policy.
鈥淎merica is back,鈥� Biden said, in what has become a mantra.
But keeping his promises on the international stage has proved much more difficult than Biden might have expected. Domestic politics have routinely been a roadblock when it comes to taking action on , and , undermining hopes that Biden could swiftly restore the U.S. to its unquestioned role as a global leader.
The result is an administration straining to maintain its credibility abroad while Biden fights a rearguard action on Capitol Hill. It's simply more difficult to press other countries to do more to address challenges that span borders when he's struggling to deliver on those same issues at home.
鈥淓very new thing takes a little bit of the luster off, and contributes to a sense of a struggling president," said Michael O鈥橦anlon, the Brookings Institution director of research for foreign policy.
Biden has earned respect for marshaling an international response to the , and the U.S. has shipped more around the world than any other country.
Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, said Biden 鈥渉as restored our alliances, including our essential partnership with Europe, built new platforms and institutions in some of the most relevant regions of the world," including the Indo-Pacific, and shown leadership on "the issues that matter the most."
But his foreign policy record is much more mixed when he needs to secure support in Congress.
Although he has secured close to $54 billion in 鈥� something Watson described as a historic amount delivered with 鈥渦nprecedented speed鈥� 鈥� Republicans remain uniformly opposed to many of his initiatives, and Biden has been hobbled because of disagreements among Democrats.
The latest problem has been the breakdown of on-and-off negotiations with Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., for a potential compromise on legislation to address climate change and create a global minimum tax.
On both issues, Biden had already made pledges or reached an international agreement, but the U.S. commitment is now in doubt.
The global minimum tax is aimed at making it harder for companies to dodge taxes by moving from country to country in search of lower rates. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen played a leading role in
鈥淩eaching this consensus wasn鈥檛 easy," Biden said when the agreement was announced just over a year ago. "It took American vision, as well as a commitment to closely cooperate with our partners around the world. It鈥檚 a testament to how leadership rooted in our values can deliver important progress for families everywhere.鈥�
He acknowledged that 鈥渂uilding on this agreement will also require us to take action here at home鈥� 鈥� and now it looks like that action may not happen.
Biden wanted Congress to pass a proposal that would allow the U.S. to impose extra taxes on companies that aren鈥檛 paying at least 15%, either domestically or abroad.
But Manchin objected to tax changes in the legislation that's
Administration officials said they are not giving up on a plan that they said would 鈥渓evel the playing field for U.S. businesses, decrease incentives to move jobs offshore and close loopholes that corporations have used to shift profits overseas.鈥�
"It鈥檚 too important for our economic strength and competitiveness to not finalize this agreement, and we鈥檒l continue to look at every avenue possible to get it done," said Michael Kikukawa, a Treasury Department spokesman.
But pushing ahead with the original deal will likely prove difficult at this point, said Chye-Ching Huang, executive director of the Tax Law Center at the New York University School of Law.
"It鈥檚 no doubt that this reduces the momentum,鈥� she said.
She added: 鈥淭here is a strong possibility that the major trading partners do this without the U.S. but the path forward is rockier."
Manchin has also been an obstacle for Biden's climate change plans, at a time when Democrats hold the narrowest of margins in the Senate.
A few months after taking office, with other world leaders, and he announced that he would increase the country's target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The decision was welcomed by scientists and politicians who worry that enough isn't being done to prevent the planet from warming to dangerous levels, and Biden has spoken of fighting climate change with 鈥渢he power of our example.鈥�
Biden's ability to meet his pledge, however, has been undermined twice recently. First the conservative majority on the Supreme Court to regulate emissions, and then Manchin said he wouldn't support new spending to support clean energy projects.
John Kerry, Biden's global climate envoy, that the administration's struggles could 鈥渟low the pace鈥� of other countries' emissions cuts.
鈥淭hey鈥檒l make their own analysis that will conceivably have an impact at what they decide to do or not," he said.
Biden is trying to demonstrate that , without legislation, and he's considering declaring a state of emergency that would allow him to shift more resources toward climate initiatives.
But his powers are limited, and hitting the target may prove difficult, if not impossible.
Nathaniel Keohane, president of the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, said the clock is ticking until the next United Nations summit on climate change, which is scheduled for Egypt in November.
Unless the administration is able to demonstrate progress before then, 鈥渋t will hamstring the U.S. ability to continue to push more from other countries,鈥� Keohane said. "It would deeply undermine U.S. credibility on climate.鈥�
He added, 鈥淢ore rhetoric is not going to satisfy the need at this point.鈥�
Biden has also struggled to convince Congress to provide him with
When Dr. Ashish Jha, who leads the administration's coronavirus task force, appeared in the White House briefing room for the first time in April, he emphasized that worldwide vaccinations were needed to prevent new variants from emerging.
鈥淚f we鈥檙e going to fight a global pandemic, we have to have a global approach,鈥� he said. 鈥淭hat means we need funding to ensure that we鈥檙e getting shots in arms around the world.鈥�
Biden originally wanted $22.5 billion. Lawmakers reduced the proposal to $15.6 billion, but even that was jettisoned from a $1.5 trillion government spending plan that the president signed in March.
Efforts to resuscitate the proposal have not been successful.
鈥淭he debacle over getting new money in the pipeline has really set us back," said J. Stephen Morrison, director of the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 鈥淭here鈥檚 paralysis and uncertainty."
Morrison emphasized that the United States has played 鈥渁 very serious and honorable leadership role鈥� with its donations of vaccines and its work with the World Bank to set up a new fund to prepare for future pandemics.
But without new legislation, Morrison said, more robust plans to support vaccination campaigns in other countries are on hold.
鈥淲e鈥檙e in a difficult spot right now," he said.
Chris Megerian, Fatima Hussein And Ellen Knickmeyer, The Associated Press
