WASHINGTON -- President Joe Biden told the nation that the United States is stronger economically and militarily and has more allies today compared with four years ago as he prepares to leave office later this month.
In a speech at the State Department on January 13 summing up his administration’s record, Biden said the United States has widened its lead over competitors like Russia and China.
"Our adversaries are weaker than they were when we came into this job four years ago. Let's consider Russia. [President Vladimir] Putin invaded Ukraine. He thought he'd conquer Kyiv in a matter of days. But the truth is, since that war began, I'm the only one that stood in the center of Kyiv, not him," Biden said, referring to his visit to the embattled nation last year.
When Biden took office in 2021, he sought to repair relations with European allies damaged under his predecessor, Donald Trump, "park Russia," and focus on competing with China, which the United States considers its main global rival.
However, his foreign policy priorities were uprooted as Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, triggering the largest land war in Europe in more than seven decades, and as Hamas attacked Israel in 2023, igniting a war that threatens to engulf the region. Both wars continue today.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine helped Biden achieve his goal of strengthening NATO, as member nations rallied around the United States to support Kyiv with hundreds of billions of dollars in military and financial aid. Sweden and Finland, long neutral nations, joined NATO following Russia's attack on Ukraine.
During his term in office, U.S. adversaries, including Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran, expanded cooperation, increasing the threat to the West. Beijing, Tehran, and Pyongyang all sent technological and military aid to Russia, while Moscow boosted energy and military supplies to those countries. Biden said their cooperation was driven by “weakness” not strength.
Biden said his administration rebooted the U.S. defense industrial base, investing almost $1.3 trillion in procurement and research and development during his four year term.
He also said he oversaw a U.S. economy that went from strength to strength while adversaries struggled, adding that the United States will continue to remain the largest economy in the world for decades to come.
"My administration is leaving the next administration with a very strong hand to play," Biden said. "America is once again leading."
He called on Trump, who is set to be inaugurated on January 20, to ensure the United States remains the leader in artificial intelligence, saying the new technology has the power to reshape economies, governments, and national security.
Biden also urged Trump to take the clean energy transition seriously, calling climate change the "greatest existential threat to humanity."
He warned that China was seeking to dominate the clean energy industry, from materials to manufacturing, saying it could leave the United States dependent on Beijing.
"The United States must win that contest," he said.