BERLIN— Germany honored U.S. President Joe Biden for his contribution to trans-Atlantic relations on Friday, ahead of his meetings with European allies on Russia’s war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East.
But the presidential election cast a long shadow over Biden’s trip, the first bilateral visit to Germany by a U.S. president in nearly eight years.
With the election just weeks away and the race extremely tight, there are worries that a victory for Donald Trump could upset the relationships that Biden is hoping to pass on to Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.
Trump, the Republican nominee, has an appetite for imposing trade tariffs on key U.S. security partners. He’s expressed indifference to the security of Ukraine, refusing to say during a presidential debate if he wants the U.S. ally to win its war against Russia. He’s voiced doubts about coming to the defense of NATO members if they come under attack.
Those concerns were reflected as Biden received the highest class of Germany’s Order of Merit, which was also bestowed on former U.S. President George H.W. Bush for his support of German reunification.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier pointed to Biden’s interest in Germany going back more than four decades. He said the friendship with the U.S. is “and will always be existentially important” for Germany, but there have always been “times of proximity and greater distance.”
“Even recently, just a handful of years ago, the distance had grown so wide that we almost lost each other,” Steinmeier said, in an allusion to tense relations during Trump’s earlier presidency. He said Biden “restored Europe’s hope in the trans-Atlantic alliance literally overnight.”
“In the months to come, I hope that Europeans remember: America is indispensable for us,” he added. “And I hope that Americans remember: Your allies are indispensable for you. We are more than just ‘other countries’ in the world — we are partners, we are friends.”
Biden thanked German leaders for their role in helping Ukraine against the Russian invasion.
“We cannot let up,” he said. “We must sustain our support; in my view, we must keep going until Ukraine wins a just and durable peace.”
Recalling the “wide sweep of history” he has seen in his 81 years, Biden said “we should never underestimate the power of democracy, never underestimate the value of alliances.”
Speaking aboard Air Force One on the way to Berlin, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan rejected the notion that Biden wants to “Trump-proof” U.S. foreign policy, because of the political implications of that term. But Sullivan’s stated goals seem designed to thwart efforts by a potential Trump administration to stop military aid to Ukraine after more than two years of fighting.
“What the president is trying to do is to make our commitment to Ukraine sustainable and institutionalized for the long term,” Sullivan said. “And every other ally agreed that that was the responsible thing to do.”
But Sullivan cautioned that Biden ultimately can only speak for himself, not what his potential successor might do.
“What President Biden can do is what he’s done for four years, which is lay out his vision of America’s place in the world and point the way forward based on what he thinks are in America’s national security interests and in the interests of our close allies,” Sullivan said. “Beyond that, he can’t speak for anyone else and doesn’t intend to.”
Trump has said his approach will help the U.S. economy and prevent foreign countries from taking advantage of the United States. He maintains that if he were still president, Russia would never have invaded Ukraine in 2022 and Hamas would never have attacked Israel in 2023.
“I will end the war in Ukraine, stop the chaos in the Middle East, and prevent World War III,” he said at a recent rally in Georgia.
Harris, for her part, has voiced strong backing for Ukraine and tracks with Biden on support for Israel, while placing particular emphasis on the need to relieve the suffering of Palestinian civilians whose lives have been upended by the Hamas war.
Biden has long said that his message to foreign leaders is that “America is back” and engaged with allies after Trump’s time in office. But the U.S. president recalled being met with skepticism: “The comment that I hear most of all from them is they say, ‘We see America is back but for how long? But for how long?’”
Biden didn’t want his term to end without visiting Berlin, after having been to visit other key allies such as Japan, South Korea, France, India, the United Kingdom, Poland and Ukraine.
Biden plans to meet later Friday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Biden and Scholz will later meet with French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer before the U.S. president jets home late Friday afternoon.
Biden and Scholz plan to discuss next steps in Ukraine and developments in Israel and Gaza after the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. They also intend to touch on Lebanon and Iran, and coordinate their approaches to China as well as their respective industrial and innovation strategies. The pair are also set to talk about the development of artificial intelligence and renewable energy resources.