The transition team of Biden is handling the new orientations of the domestic and foreign policies of the administration of the incoming president-elect.

Biden’s take on domestic issues

The incoming team of the new President-elect of the USA is gradually getting in a final shape and so are its policies and various associated architectures. Data shows that Biden was propelled to victory by the youth, who find hopes in his arrival, especially after the events of the current year in context of the pandemic and the black lives matter movement. In the face of Covid19, which had caused economic distress around the world, the National Economic Council (NEC) of the US saw expansion under the incoming President Joe Biden. The team, especially Biden took a jibe at Trump regarding the Russian hack and over the virus aid. Bided stated that the Russian cyberattack occurred on Trump’s watch. He also stressed that after his inauguration, more relief would come in matters of Virus aid and the economic distress caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. David Kamin, who was an official in the Obama administration, has been made the deputy director of the NEC. A top economic advisor to Senator Elizabeth Warren’s 2020 presidential campaign, Bharat Ramamurti, will work as the deputy director in the NEC for Financial Reform and Consumer Protection, as has been recently revealed by Biden’s team. Joe Biden as President would have Joelle Gamble as the Special assistant for Economic Policy.

Biden in a recent speech called for unity among the Americans. He stressed on the need to work in a bipartisan way in the face of the pandemic. Biden also underscored that the American voters have made it clear in the election of 2020, that they want the government to reach and work across the aisle in the matters of national concerns. Biden also castigated the Trump administration for failing to deal with the issue of cybersecurity by either downgrading or eliminating the cyber-coordinators in both the White House and at the State department levels. It also included the firing of the director of the Cyberspace and Infrastructure security agency. President-elect Biden stressed on the importance of cybersecurity in an age where so much of the work is dependent on “being online” and hence on the need to treat cybersecurity with seriousness.

In the spirit of his call for unity, Biden had appreciated the Trump administration’s speed to bring out the vaccine but expressed dismay at the Defence Department not briefing the new team with reference to the transition meetings. The US Congress in response to the economic damage resulted due to the Covid19 pandemic, had recently passed a $900 billion coronavirus relief package. While Trump had been out of sight in the days ahead of Christmas, and had said little about the Russian cyber-hack, the stimulus bill, his election loss or even the roll-out of vaccine, Biden stepped in to fill the void and called the stimulus bill a down payment on a bigger bill. Trump while still reluctant to accept his defeat had called the Coronavirus relief bill a disgrace. The interesting thing to note is that while the victory of Joe Biden has been officially affirmed, Trump is still in a denial mode. It got reflected when he said with regards to the Coronavirus relief package that the next administration, which he said will be his, will have to deal with it.

Biden as a measure to assure the US citizens of the safety of the vaccine publicly received his first dose of the vaccine for the novel Coronavirus, produced by Pfizer & BioNtech

Biden’s take on foreign policy

By bringing in experienced professionals on the table, Biden is set to replace diplomacy by tweet and unpredictability of Trump and his chaotic nature with a suave & polished approach to foreign policy. The prominent challenges for the incoming team would be over various matters like climate change, trade war with China, peace in Middle East & Afghanistan and many others. Biden had also raised hopes when he indicated that he will bring the USA back into commitment for the Paris climate accords of 2015. The naming of Kerry as the climate envoy had been appreciated by many. Some have pointed out the slow pace of climate diplomacy under Kerry, but the fact that he was the main driver of the climate accords of 2015 cannot be avoided. Compared to the complete denial of climate change by Trump, Kerry can certainly push the climate deals and commitments ahead. A crucial engagement for the US under Biden would in the matter of the Iranian nuclear deal which it had exited under Trump. The exit of the US from the Iranian nuclear deal or the JCPOA had led Iran to go ahead with its Uranium enrichment. But, after the beginning of the transition of Biden, there have been talks of possible reentry of the US into the deal. The Iranians have shown hopes that they are ready to coordinate with IAEA and would “rapidly reverse” the infringements once the other participating nations in the deal led by the US perform their duties. The assassination of the Iranian nuclear scientist may complicate the approach platform for the USA nevertheless the chances are still bright for re-engagement of the US with Iran.

Inclusion of Jake Sullivan as the National security advisor, Antony Blinken as the secretary of state, Linda Thomas as the US ambassador to the UN, would enable Biden to bring the US back into the centrestage of world politics and global diplomacy leadership from which it withdrew under Trump. Biden most likely will engage with the world in the same way as Bill Clinton did in the 1990s.

The cabinet of Biden has been identified as the multicultural dream-team. Apart from two white men-Blinken and Sullivan, it has Lloyd Austin III, a  retired four-star general as the secretary of defense, and a black running the pentagon, a Taiwanese American, Katherine Tai chosen as the US trade representative and two Indian Americans- Neera Tanden and Kamala Harris chosen as the head of office of management and budget and the Vice president respectively.

Important to note is the inclusion of Jake Sullivan, who is drawing a humbler and introspecting approach to foreign policy and diplomacy of the US. Sullivan is known to work upon the connection of the foreign policy for the middle class. In other words, he would try to bridge the domestic issues and the needs of the foreign policy of USA while bringing the country in the centre of leadership, without incurring too much cost of being a world leader.