American allies need to invest in US multilateralism as well

US PRESIDENT-ELECT Joe Biden has pledged to re-embrace America's internationalist foreign policy tradition. Rejecting Donald Trump's isolationist and unilateralist "America First" approach to diplomacy, he will seek to strengthen US strategic global alliances and to cooperate with the international community on, among other things, the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change.

The President-elect and the foreign policy and national security advisors he selected to work with him are, by temperament and practice, multilateralists who believe that having the US play a central role in international institutions not only enhances global security and prosperity but also advances American national interests. Hence the Biden administration will rejoin the Paris agreement on climate change, return to a leadership role in the World Health Organization (WHO), and try to resurrect the nuclear deal with Iran. That all comes as very good news to America's military allies and economic partners who have found it difficult to work with a US president who has treated them with disdain in the last four years. Reinvigorating America's alliances also sends a clear message to anti-Western powers such as China and Russia who will have to consider that Washington is not planning to challenge them alone but as part of powerful international coalitions. While applauding Mr Biden's commitment to multilateralism, America's friends should also recognise the political and economic constraints operating on the next administration as it tries to take the internationalist road.

First, Mr Biden's victory in the November election was not resounding. The outcome suggests that a large slice of the American electorate supports the anti-globalist and nationalist agenda embraced by President Trump. Moreover, the Democrats have lost some of their power in the House of Representatives and will probably not regain control of the Senate. That means that any major diplomatic move by the new president would require the approval of a Senate where pro-Trump lawmakers are expected to have a lot of influence. Even when it comes to his own party, a President Biden will be constrained by the powerful progressive wing which, not unlike the Trumpists, has opposed free trade policies and has called for reducing US military commitments abroad. This indicates that any major foreign policy move by the Biden administration - such as the signing of new international trade deals, intervening in future international crises or deploying US troops abroad - could face strong opposition from both Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill, and an American public that has become sceptical about spending lives and treasure on commitments abroad.