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Biden Delivers One Of His Final Foreign Policy Speeches As President Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired January 13, 2025 - 14:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:30:00]

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The United States, Japan, Austria -- Australia, and India. When we were -- had that first meeting, I was dumbfounded when they all called and said, "Can we do this at your house?"

(LAUGHTER)

You think I'm kidding.

(LAUGHTER)

My wife said, "No problem."

(LAUGHTER)

It was during the -- the UN meeting, and we thought we were going to do it in New York but they wanted to do it in Delaware. I said, "Why?"

(LAUGHTER)

He said, "We can now -- then people will know we're really friends."

(LAUGHTER)

Our democracy is with (ph) vibrant economies working closely -- security, supply chains, technology, and so much more.

In the Red Sea, we brought together more than 20 countries to -- to perfect civilian -- to protect civilian ships from attack by the Houthis, defending freedom of navigation in one of the world's busiest waterways.

And we have strengthened partnerships all across the Americas, defending democracy and targeting corruption, addressing migration, increasing prosperity, and protecting Amazon rainforest which captures billions of tons -- billions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere every year.

Overall, we've reinvigorated people's faith in the United States as a true, true partner.

Today, I can report to the American people our adversaries are weaker than they were when we came into this job four years ago. Just consider Russia. When 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's stood in the center of Kyiv, not him.

(LAUGHTER)

Putin never has. Think about it.

(APPLAUSE)

It was a long train ride but I'm the only Commander-in-Chief to visit a war zone not controlled by U.S. forces. We helped Ukrainians stop Putin, and now, nearly three -- three years later, Putin has failed to achieve any of his strategic objectives. He has failed thus far to subjugate Ukraine, failed to break the -- break the unity of NATO, and failed to make large territorial gains.

But there's more to do. We can't walk away. We rallied 50 nations to stand with Ukraine, not just in Europe but the first -- for the first time in Asia as well, because those countries in Asia know what happens in Ukraine matters to them as well.

We delivered air interceptors, massive numbers of munitions, enacted relentless, unprecedented sanctions to keep Ukraine in the fight. And now, Russia is struggling to replace what they are losing on the battlefield and -- in terms of military equipment and fighters. And the ruble is under enormous pressure.

As I saw it when Putin launched his invasion, I had two jobs -- one to rally the world to defend Ukraine and the other is to avoid war between two nuclear powers. We did both those things. And today, Ukraine is still a free, independent country with the potential -- the potential for a bright future. And we've laid the foundation for the next administration so they can protect the bright future of the Ukrainian people.

And now, look at Iran. Did you ever think we'd be where we are with Iran at this moment? After those despicable attacks by Hamas on October the 7th, Iran directly attacked Israel twice with hundreds of ballistic missiles and drones. And twice, they failed because the United States organized a coalition of countries to stop them and ordered U.S. aircraft to come to the defense of Israel. Now, Iran's air defenses are in shambles, their main proxy Hezbollah is badly wounded.

And as we tested Iran's willingness to revive the nuclear deal, we kept the pressure with sanctions. Now, Iran's economy is in desperate straits. All told, Iran is weaker than it's been in decades. And if you want more evidence of a seriously weakened Iran and Russia, just take a look at Syria. President Assad was both countries' closest ally in the Middle East. Neither -- neither could keep him in power; quite frankly, neither really tried very hard.

Now, I cannot -- came -- credit for every factor that led to Iran and Russia growing weaker in the past four years. They did plenty of damage all by themselves, but Israel did plenty of damage to Iran and its proxies. But there's no question our actions contributed significantly.

[14:35:00]

And now, major authoritarian states are aligning more closely with one another -- Iran, Russia, China, and North Korea -- but that's more out of weakness than out of strength. So as the new administration begins, the United States is in a fundamentally stronger position with respect to these countries than we were four years ago.

Today, I can report to the American people we're in a better strategic position in the long-term competition with China than we were when I took office. You all recall many experts believe or predicting it was inevitable that China's economy would surpass ours.

According to many predictions, that would happen by the year 2030 or shortly thereafter. But we in this room said no. If we make the investments in ourselves, we protect our workers and technology, that will not happen. Now, according to the latest predictions on China's current course, they will never surpass us, period.

I met one-on-one with President Xi in consequential summits. He and I have always been direct and straightforward with each other. I made it clear we expect China and everyone to abide by the international rules. And so, we stood up against unfair trade practices, taking action when China dumped subsidized goods, incredibly subsidized, on our markets to undercut our workers.

We imposed target tariffs on critical sectors like cars, steel, and semiconductors rather than across-the-board tariffs. We imposed historic export controls on investments restrictions to ensure that China cannot -- cannot use the most advanced technology and sensitive data against us.

And critically, we enlisted our allies and partners to join us, building more convergence among our allies on a shared approach to China than ever existed. And showing that it's more effective to deal with China alongside of partners rather than going it alone.

But even while we compete vigorously, we've managed our relationship with China responsibly so it's never tipped over into conflict. We've created lines of communication between President Xi and myself, and between the leaders of our militaries.

To avoid misunderstanding, we found ways to work with each other to address climate change, to reduce the flow of fentanyl in the United States which, by the way, overdose deaths are coming down across our nation. And in my administration, we've seized more fentanyl at our border in two years than the previous five years combined.

Today, I can also report to the American people, we're the first president in decades who's not leading a war in Afghanistan to his successor. But we've got bin Laden during the Obama-Biden administration, the primary objective of war had been accomplished.

And I believe that going forward, the primary threat of al-Qaeda would no longer be emanating from Afghanistan, but from elsewhere. And so, we not need to station a sizable number of American forces in Afghanistan.

So, when I took office, I had a choice. Ultimately, I saw no reason to keep thousands of servicemen in Afghanistan. I think I have my schedule with me and I keep on my -- I don't here -- I don't have -- but I keep on the back of my card the actual number of dead and wounded that occurred in our longest war, to remind myself.

Keep spending hundreds of millions of dollars a day, we're not longer doing that. In my view, it was time to end the war and bring our troops home, and we did. I commend the courage of all those who served in Afghanistan.

We grieve all 2,461 Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice in the longest war in American history. And I grieve those brave servicemembers whose lives were lost during the withdrawal. We also thank those inside and outside of government who've done so much to help thousands of Afghan families resettle in the United States.

Remember, critics said if we ended the war, it would damage our alliances and create threats to our homeland from foreign-directed terrorism out of a safe haven in Afghanistan. Neither has occurred. Neither has occurred. And our alliance has stayed strong.

[14:40:00]

We've used our over-the-horizon capabilities to strike in Afghanistan and elsewhere when we had to. For instance, eliminating Zawahiri, the leader of al-Qaeda, who helped orchestrate the September 11th attacks. And we did it without putting more American boots on the ground. And by ending the war, we've been able to focus our energy and resources on more urgent challenges.

There is nothing, and I can tell you from my conversations with both Xi and Putin, nothing our adversaries and competitors like Russia and China would have liked more than seeing us to continue to be tied down in Afghanistan for another decade. For all those reasons, ending the war was the right thing to do. And I believe history will reflect that.

And from the moment I entered office, I also worked to free as many Americans as possible, being held hostage and wrongfully detained overseas. We brought home more than 75 Americans by last count. In some cases, it took months, even years of effort, like the prisoner swap with Russia over the past summer.

A feat of diplomacy involving all many of you and involving multiple countries who joined complex negotiations at our request. Another example of the power of our alliances, we did not have these relationships, those women -- and women would likely still be in prison.

And finally, I can report to the American people that we restored our leadership in a range of other generational priorities. When I took office, we were no longer part of the International Climate Agreement. We announced on day one that we would rejoin the Paris Accord. Rejoin. And we were led by example. We've conserved hundreds of millions of acres, hundreds of millions of acres of land and water, more than any president in American history, making investments in clean energy and convincing other nations to join us.

Thanks to our efforts, the world has reached the goal of investing $100 billion every year in public and private funds to reduce greenhouse emissions, to drive down the cost of clean energy, to help developing nations adapt to climate change.

Our administration has launched a transformative initiative to build high-impact infrastructure in developing nations. It's called PGI. You all know that better than anyone. This is our alternative to what China offers with its massive projects across Africa and beyond.

But their approach features no workers' rights, no environmental protections, unmanageable debt, shoddy construction, all in exchange for military access to ports and other exploitative purposes. By contrast, we've leveraged $600 billion and unleashed the private sector to build an infrastructure in order to grow economies and combat climate change.

As an example, I was recently in Angola to see a major project being built with the help of American public funding, which brought in even more private investment. We're building the first-ever transcontinental railroad across Africa. It will significantly improve the economies of the region. It will help farmers transport crops in new global markets, will transport critical minerals that wouldn't -- that need -- they're needed for electric vehicles and semiconductors. China used to control the supply chains in these materials but not for long.

Now, make no mistake, there's serious challenges that the United States must continue to deal with, in Ukraine, in the Middle East, in the Indo-Pacific. We must keep the pressure on the Houthis who are attacking ships in the Red Sea, launching missiles at Israel, and firing at American forces. We must deter North Korea as they rattle their saber and draw closer to Russia.

And new challenges will certainly emerge in the months and years ahead, but even -- but even so, it's clear my administration is leaving the next administration with a very strong hand to play, and we're leaving them an America with more friends and stronger alliances, whose adversaries are weaker and under pressure; an America that once again is leading, uniting countries, setting the agenda, bringing others together behind our plans and visions; an America which is no longer at war, which has made historic investments in American workers, American energies, and many -- American factories, generated the strongest economy in the world which is now in a much better position to win the future against any competitor.

[14:45:00]

These wins are not partisan, they're American. They benefit all Americans and they reflect America's endless capacity for leadership and reinvention. Look, folks, the United States should take full advantage of our diplomatic and geopolitical opportunities we've created, to keep bringing countries together, to deal with challenges posed by China, to make sure Putin -- war -- Putin's war ends in a just and lasting peace for Ukraine, and to capitalize on a new moment for a more stable, integrated Middle East.

To do that, the next administration must make sure the fall of Assad does not lead to the resurgence of ISIS in Syria and across the region. It must carry forward the commitment that America will never -- never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.

And on the war between Israel and Hamas, we're in the brink of a proposal that I laid out in detail months ago finally coming to fruition. I have learned in many years of public service to never, never, never, ever give up.

So I spoke to the Prime Minister of Israel yesterday. I spoke to the Emir of Qatar today. And I look forward to speaking with President Sisi soon. We're pressing hard to close this. The deal we have structured (ph) would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel, and it will allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who've suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started. They've been through hell. So many innocent people have been killed. So many communities have been destroyed.

The Palestinian people deserve peace and the right to determine their own futures. Israel deserves peace and real security. And the hostages and their families deserve to be reunited. And so we're working urgently to close this deal.

And as we deal with immediate (ph) challenges, in my view, we have to look to the future. I urge the next administration to carry forward two issues that have been central to my presidency and which shape the future, in my view.

On artificial intelligence, we are the lead and we must stay in the lead. We must not off-shore artificial intelligence, as we once did with computer chips and other critical technologies. A.I. has the power to re-shore up -- reshape economies, governments, national security, entire societies, and it must be the United States and our closest allies that lead the way to ensure people's rights are respected, their safety is protected, and their data is secure.

And likewise, the clean energy transition will race ahead in the years to come. I know -- and some -- incoming administration -- some in the incoming administration are skeptical about the need for clean energy. They don't even believe climate change is real. I think they come from a different century. They're wrong. They are dead wrong. It's the single greatest existential threat to humanity.

And the clean energy transition is already happening. China is trying to dominate the clean energy, manufacturing critical minerals, supply chains. They want to capture the market of the future and create new dependencies. The United States must win that contest, and we will shape the global economy and the planet for decades to come.

Let me close with this -- like many of you, I've dedicated a significant portion of my career to our nation's foreign policy. As Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee as a Senator, Vice President for eight years, and now President of the United States, I put together one of the most competent foreign policy teams, I would argue, in American history, sitting in this room and before my eyes.

[14:50:00]

Throughout my career, the world has gone -- undergone tremendous change, but certain things have always held true. At our best, America leads not only by the example of our power but the power of our example.

In the past four years, we've used that power not to go it alone but instead to bring countries together to increase shared security and prosperity, to stand up to aggression, and to solve problems through diplomacy wherever possible, and to relentlessly defend democracy, civil rights, and human rights, cause that's who we are -- that's who we are.

You heard me say it many times before -- we're the only country on Earth founded on an idea. Every other country is founded on geography, religion, ethnicity, or some other unifying factor, but America was built on an idea -- on an idea, literal, not figuratively. That idea was all women and men are created equal, the idea that has been inspiring the world for 250 years and counting.

And we're always reaching to do better, always looking to the future, and at our best, always seeking progress for our people and for people everywhere. It's been the honor of my life to serve as your President. Today, I'm optimistic about our future, as optimistic as I've ever been.

We just have to remember who in the hell we are. You've heard me say it many time -- we're the United States of America, for God's sake. There is nothing, nothing, nothing beyond our capacity if we do it together and commit to it, nothing.

So I thank you all for all you've done. I hope many of you are going to be staying in the next administration to keep this moving. May God bless you all and may God protect our troops. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

Thank you. (Inaudible). Thank you.

[14:52:20]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: President Biden speaking there at the State Department on the legacy of his foreign policy approach during his four years in the White House.

Ending it saying, "We are the United States of America, for god's sake. There is nothing beyond our capacity," which is quite Joe Biden- esque, I would say.

Let's bring in our panel to talk about this.

We are covering this from some of the key flashpoints that he mentioned from Europe and from the Middle East, and also here in Washington.

And I just want to start with you, Kim and Cedric.

Just give us sort of the overview of what you heard in the speech. If this was a fair representation? Were there omissions, things that you noted?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Look, he patted himself on the back, quite rightly, for alliances that he built, rebuilt. And European officials will tell you he brought in stability, that they craved after the mercurial nature of the last Trump administration.

But he fails to understand Afghanistan and the nexus with Ukraine. The withdrawal from Afghanistan that he said was necessary to stop spending lives and treasure, sent a message to the world, including to Vladimir Putin, that the U.S. could be challenged and wouldn't fight back. And it is one of the reasons Putin cited for his invasion of Ukraine.

So Biden wouldn't have had to have bring together all the alliances to help fund Ukraine if they'd appeared tough to Russia. At least that is how history is going to debate this.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think one of the things that's important here, to build upon what Kim has said, is that Putin misread the United States and what the United States would be doing vis a vis Ukraine.

The fact that the United States supported Ukraine in this way was a very significant move. The strengthening of the alliances, that is absolutely key -- a key component of key component of Biden's legacy.

One of the things, perhaps on the other side of the balance sheet, might be this, that while those alliances focus alliances focus physical and kinetic power and also on economic power, they don't specifically address issues, at least they haven't in the public realm, of things like cyber security and the fact to protect intellectual property like artificial intelligence.

He certainly mentioned artificial intelligence quite a bit in these -- in these remarks. But the key thing going forward is going to be going to be that this is basically Biden's defense of the pax Americana.

The fact that the United States, from the end of World War II, up until the present point in time, has basically held sway over a large portion of the world.

Yes, there have been issues, like Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, you know, all of these things have come up during this time. And there certainly were perturbations since 9/11. [14:55:08]

But the very fact that we've had a basically stable relationship with other rival countries, like Russia, like China, is critically important. And President Biden definitely alluded to the fact that they've managed that quite extensively and prevented it from really becoming a major conflict.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: I mean, his thesis really is that our foreign adversaries are much weaker than they were before he came into -- into office.

That seemed to sort of be the common theme across every specific issue he spoke about, whether it was from Iran, Russia and China. But of course, the change of regime in Syria as well.

I want to bring in M.J. Lee, who's at the White House, for us.

Because, M.J., you know, we were talking before this speech about some of the progress made in the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal. You know, we heard from the president that he had spoken to the emir of Qatar as well.

But also with -- with Benjamin Netanyahu, which I believe was the first, at least publicly announced conversation they had had in quite some time.

I wonder if, given what we have heard so much so far come out from this deal as well, did we get a sense for -- for how much they wanted to emphasize United States involvement in what was going on between Israel and Hamas and potential optimism for a future in regard to any ceasefire?

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, it was interesting, actually, given all of our reporting on how optimistic U.S. officials are feeling today about the possibility of getting this deal in place in Gaza, President Biden actually didn't spend a ton of time talking about the mechanics of that deal.

He did say that ceasefire deal is on the brink of finally coming to fruition. He said U.S. officials are going to continue pressing hard to close the deal.

So certainly, went right up to the line of suggesting that this could happen in the coming days. But really, this was not a speech that was going to get into the machinations of how those negotiations have been going.

And, Omar, just in the big picture, I completely agree with you. I mean, this very much sounded like, as we had expected, a foreign policy victory lap speech, on everything from how the U.S. has handled itself when it comes to Ukraine and Iran and the degradation of its capabilities.

On China, you know, he was saying, when I first got into office, everybody was saying it was inevitable that China's economy would, at some point, surpass Americas'. And he said, at this point, that is just not going to happen.

Talking about Afghanistan, I was a little surprised how glancingly he mentioned the fact that U.S. servicemembers had died in the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

But nevertheless, he did say it was important to him that he keep his promise of ending the presence of American forces there and not handing off that war to his successor.

But I will say, as we are talking about, in the big picture, this victory lap that he is taking on foreign policy and trying to cement his legacy, I think we just have to be realistic about the fact that, you know, if -- it is President Biden's right to make this kind of a speech.

It is also incoming President Donald Trump's right to ignore every piece of advice that President Biden might be trying to give him.

On Ukraine, he said, you know, we can't walk away now. On China, he said it is better for the U.S. to deal with China alongside it's -- its alliances and allies. President Trump doesn't have to do anything with that.

And I think that is going to be a reality that President Biden, of course, knows very well and is going to be a bitter pill for him to swallow, given that he didn't want to be passing the baton back to Donald Trump.

KEILAR: Yes, such a good point, M.J.

David, that M.J. makes there. This is going to be quite a turn because I think -- he said something that I think a lot of people agree with Democrats and Republicans, which is that there's a sense that America is at an inflection point.

There's a lot of fear about what is around the corner when it comes to competition with China. And these flash points that we look at that he covered. And as we make the turn here in the U.S. from the Biden administration into the Trump administration, it is going to be very, very different.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF & POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Oh, there's no doubt about it. I mean, think about the whole frame of the speech. It's about what he inherited from the previous Trump administration and how he believes he brought it to better standing, both economically in terms of the global economy and in terms of the nation's security.

So he's already in the frame of that speech, not just tying a bow around his legacy, which you would expect any president to do at the end of their term. But in contrast to what was handed to him, and he's handing it back to those same people, or at least the same president, and maybe some other people will populate it.

[14:59:58] But it's hard to think about this moment without recognizing -- I mean, listen, I don't consider myself a spring chicken, right? Joe Biden --

DOZIER: Right.

CHALIAN: -- has been in --

(LAUGHTER)

CHALIAN: -- Washington at the center of foreign policy debates and --