Pierre Briançon
President-elect Joe Biden will nominate former State Department official Antony Blinken as his future secretary of state, according to several sources. Veteran diplomats and Obama administration alumni Linda Thomas-Greenfield and Jake Sullivan will be nominated to the respective roles of ambassador to the United Nations and national security adviser.
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The outlook: The three appointments confirm that Biden’s foreign policy will mark a return to the traditional fold of American diplomacy. Blinken is known as a defender of global alliances and international agreements, and has described Europe as “first resort, not last resort, when it comes to contending with the challenges” the U.S. faces.
Very shortly after his inauguration on Jan. 20, Biden has said that he would rejoin the Paris agreement on climate change, work to join again the Iran deal on nuclear weapons, and in general show the U.S.’ intent to revive multilateralism, first by working constructively within the world’s major international organizations — beginning with the World Health Organization and the World Trade Organization.
That doesn’t mean that Europe should expect Washington to lose sight of the U.S.’ own interests on trade — with its massive trade deficit with the European Union — or see eye-to-eye with the EU on, for example, relationships with Russia and China.
Read: Why Europe Puts Economic Hopes on a Biden Presidency
