President Joe Biden took office with an ambitious foreign policy agenda summed up by his favorite campaign tagline: “America is back.” Above all, that will mean repairing the damage done to America’s global standing by his predecessor, former President Donald Trump.
The novel coronavirus caught many world leaders unprepared, despite consistent warnings that a global pandemic was inevitable. And it has revealed the flaws in a global health architecture headed by the World Health Organization, which had already been faulted for its response to the 2014 Ebola pandemic in West Africa. Will there be an overhaul of the WHO when the pandemic is over?
The coronavirus pandemic has upended life as we know it with its devastating effects on health and domestic economies, but also multilateral trade, cooperation and aid. Among the victims of COVID-19 might be the multilateral system that has helped to ensure peace and coordinate global responses to challenges that cut across borders.
