Opinion: Biden, the G-7 and the limits of multilateralism

President Biden's election victory led many to hope for meaningful progress on international issues, but there are multiple reasons why expectations should be tempered, say Dr Thomas Gift and Dr Julie Norman (Both UCL Centre on US Politics). When Joe Biden entered the White House, he declared that "America is back." Many in the international community expressed relief, predicting the new U.S. president would be a return to normalcy, a committed ally of Atlanticism - and, most importantly, an antidote to four turbulent years of Donald Trump. Nearly five months on, with the world's eyes cast this week on Cornwall, England, site of the G-7 summit, what will foreign leaders see when they meet face-to-face with Biden? And what does it portend for achieving meaningful progress on an international agenda? Three facts offer cause for tempered expectations. Biden is governing as a domestic, not a foreign policy, president. Biden has pursued a number of agenda items on the world stage. Since becoming president, he's notably rejoined the Paris climate accord, extended the START treaty with Russia and withdrawn troops from Afghanistan. Yet make no mistake: Biden's top priorities lie within America's borders.