Biden or Trump: Same Old, Same Old

The comparison crossed my mind recently. After several months of Joe Biden’s presidency, it’s still difficult to spot any real difference between Biden’s foreign policy and Donald Trump’s. Beyond the observable differences in image and personality between the two politicians, it seems that we’re set to be treated to the same American politics, but under a less arrogant and less narcissistic guise.

Let me explain. We have observed a revival of American protectionism with Biden’s Buy America Act, which will strongly disadvantage Canada. Yet we are the largest commercial partner of the United States and a key ally. The Biden administration was quick to threaten Canada with punitive customs tariffs in an argument with Canadian politicians about the sale of dairy products. It is hard to distinguish enormous differences between Biden’s and Trump’s business policies. Both of them take a protectionist policy while putting pressure on other countries, even long-standing allies.

Conspiracy Theory

We’ve already seen that Biden has resumed Trump’s conspiracy theory on the origins of Covid-19. For Biden and Trump, the virus potentially stems from a laboratory in Wuhan. These recent declarations are obviously made without proof and fit into a hegemonic battle between a rising power and a falling one. The United States feels threatened by China’s growing power and therefore believes it is justified to continue Trump’s politics based on accusations and insults. Don’t forget that Biden also called Vladimir Putin a “killer,” a normally untenable statement on the world stage.

The same is true of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Biden administration leans very favorably toward the Israeli side and ignores, as always, the suffering of the Palestinians. Strongly criticized in his own Democratic camp for the sale of arms to Israel, Biden, however, didn’t waver and applied the same American policy that has been carried out since 1945, the exact same as Trump. Biden hopes for peace in the Middle East, but his words and his actions say otherwise. The United States gives $3.8 billion a year to Israel, including $735 million in arms, aid that is obviously not conditional on the Israeli state’s respect for human rights.

The Biden Recipe

Finally, the American dream is to believe that American elections actually bring a change in policy from one president to the other. To quote the writer Delphine de Girardin: “To always appear the same and to always appear as new, that is the secret of pleasing.” Biden has found the recipe!