Editor’s Note: This is the web version of our subscriber-only Weekly Wrap-Up newsletter, which uses relevant WPR coverage to provide background and context to the week’s top stories. Subscribe to receive it by email every Saturday. If you’re already a subscriber, adjust your newsletter settings to receive it directly to your email inbox.
Last week, I wrote about the current debate in U.S. foreign policymaking circles over restraint and America’s global role. That debate can seem abstract, but U.S. President Joe Biden’s trip this week to Europe is a concrete example of what managing America’s global presence, and particularly its network of alliances, looks like in practice.
Biden arrived Wednesday in the U.K., where he met with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to discuss bilateral issues in advance of the G-7 leaders’ summit in Cornwall that began Friday. From there, he will travel to Brussels for the NATO leaders’ summit Monday, followed by the U.S.-EU summit Tuesday. The trip is Biden’s first to Europe as president, and it marks the first real test of his oft-repeated promise that “America is back.”