America’s closest allies recognize Biden victory even as Trump challenges election results

The president’s refusal to accept his loss has blocked the steps necessary for the government’s transition to Biden. With no formal transition underway, foreign leaders called former Obama administration diplomats for contact details for Biden’s team to call and congratulate him instead of using the Department’s channels. State, according to diplomatic officials familiar with the way foreign governments approach a new administration.

Radically departing from Trump’s foreign policy and isolationist worldview, Biden’s appeals to foreign leaders focused on strengthening ties abroad and addressing global challenges, including the pandemic of coronavirus and the climate crisis, with the help of allies. All of his calls to foreign leaders on Tuesday mentioned the pandemic, the global climate crisis and the global economic recovery, according to readings provided by Biden’s transition team.

The president-elect told Macron that he wanted to revitalize bilateral and transatlantic relations, notably through NATO and the European Union. They spoke about human rights and building global health security, and Biden expressed his willingness to work to tackle security and development in Africa, the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria, and the Iranian nuclear program. .

Macron tweeted a photo of what appears to be himself on the phone with Biden and wrote: “We will have a lot to do together to promote common priorities – climate, global health, international security – and effective multilateral action.”

Biden also told Merkel he looked forward to strengthening ties between the United States and Germany, and said he welcomed the opportunity to cooperate on a common agenda with the EU. They spoke of the global challenges of containing the coronavirus pandemic, spurring a global economic recovery and dealing with the climate crisis.

In his appeal to Martin, Biden reaffirmed his support for the Good Friday deal, which ended decades of deadly sectarian violence in Ireland and the peace process in Northern Ireland.

Martin tweeted that he had a “warm and engaging call” with Biden, praising the president-elect and saying he “brings extraordinary knowledge and understanding to his new role, and has a great love for his Irish heritage. ” He said they spoke about the importance of the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organization, which Trump had announced the United States was withdrawing from. He invited Biden and future First Lady Jill Biden to Ireland to “properly mark their success.”

Biden and Johnson spoke for about 25 minutes and the call was described as friendly by someone who was aware of it. Biden told Johnson he is particularly looking forward to working closely together on global challenges as the UK prepares to host the 2021 G-7 and the United Nations Climate Change Conference. They spoke about the pandemic and global health security, the pursuit of a sustainable economic recovery, the fight against climate change and strengthening democracy, among other topics. Biden expressed interest in comparing priorities shared with the UK, NATO and the EU.

Macron tweeted that he and Biden had spoken of working together on a number of issues, including the climate crisis, pandemic, trade, energy, NATO, racism and China’s detention of Canadians Michael Kovrig , a former diplomat and consultant Michael Spavor.