BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S TRANSATLANTIC CHALLENGE

Joseph Biden’s electoral win in November 2020 was widely anticipated as American return to the global stage. In many academic and policy circles, the removal of “isolationist” Donald Trump and important triumph of liberal internationalist Biden was expected to bring about a new chapter in US relations with allies worldwide, leaving behind the awkwardness of previous administration’s reckless political style. However, once the global affairs started unfolding in 2021, Biden Administration’s key international slogan “America is back” also proved to be much more a thing of political style than well-developed substance. This article aims to examine the ways in which the Biden administration’s strategic posture during the first year of the presidency affected transatlantic relations. To that effect, key foreign policy speeches and documents have been analyzed and major international developments tracked. The key finding is that, despite the permissive context shaped by the Trump administration’s disparagement of European allies, the new administration has failed to move forward in terms of strengthening transatlantic ties. This goes to indicate that many of the issues have all along been more structural and had predated Trump’s policies, which means that they will be all the more difficult to overcome.

The technology challenge in the transatlantic relationship

Technological innovation has become a critical element of international cooperation and geopolitical rivalry. This has impacted key areas of the transatlantic partnership, presenting both opportunities and challenges for EU–US relations, either rejuvenating a relationship mired in rifts or deepening those rifts. Instead of examining how these structural cracks have emerged and are growing, this article zooms in on the challenge to transatlantic relations posed by technological innovation, both as a driver of cooperation and a cause for further rivalry. In doing so, the article explores three interrelated elements: the transatlantic technology gap and the EU’s quest for technological sovereignty, approaches to technological innovation and the role of emerging and disruptive technologies, and the values-based governance of digital and technology issues. As fast-paced technological transformation continues to disrupt societies and economies on both sides of the Atlantic, technology should be at the heart of a revived phase in EU–US cooperation and trust.

Global Horizons of the Atlantic Alliance: the Biden “Vaccine”

The article examines the conceptual issues of the transatlantic relations under the American administration in 2021 and the renewal of the NATO strategy. The NATO summit in Brussels on June 14, 2021, which was attended by US President Joe Biden, was initially seen as a US “coming back” to Europe after a turbulent “trumpism” period in transatlantic relations. The summit communiqué defines the main lines of the alliance transformation in response to the growing challenges to Euro-Atlantic security, considering the main ones incoming from Russia and China, while also imposed by international terrorism. The analysis of the Summit decisions and the follow-up of Joe Biden's European meetings proves the alliance globalization trend, both in geopolitical and functional terms. The summit, while having adopted the NATO 2030 Agenda, decided to adopt a new strategic concept at the next meeting in Spain in 2022. The author argues that the unresolved transatlantic problems and the allies’ disagreements internally challenge the alliance “global” strategy. The “trusted leadership” the Biden administration sets against the “Trump Doctrine” undermines the allies’ ability to step up the European strategic autonomy project, including in relations with Russia and China, as well as in after-Brexit Euro-Atlantic rebalancing.

Polsko-amerykańska współpraca miast

The article analyzes contemporary cooperation of Polish and American cities. Thus, it contributes to the research on the participation of non-state actors in the international relations. Currently, only 10 Polish cities conduct active cooperation with partners from the USA. These relationships focus on cooperation on issues such as culture, art, science and business. In most cases, these contacts were initiated by the Polish side, and they were based primarily on direct interpersonal contacts. Most partnership agreements were signed in the 1990s and resulted from the collapse of the Soviet block and deep political changes in Poland. Currently, the main obstacles to the intensification of these local governments transatlantic relations is a weak American involvement, geographic distance and a lack of state support.

Brexit and the Crisis of the Transatlantic Relationship

This chapter maps the changing transatlantic relations and underlines how this impacts Brexit and EU-UK relations. It points out that the view of the US government remains influential in European affairs, despite claims about transatlantic divergence. It also mentions the endorsement and encouragement of the Trump Administration of the Brexit project, while the new Biden Administration remain unwavering in its commitment in favour of the Belfast Good Friday Agreement and the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland. The chapter suggests that Brexit should not just be regarded as a UK-European affair but one of the biggest geopolitical shifts since the Second World War. It discusses the Trump phenomenon and why it represented a threat to both the transatlantic relationship and the European project.