On January 20th, US President Biden will hand over his duties to Donald Trump. Until then, the Biden team is trying to advance some of its heartfelt domestic and foreign policy projects.
A good two months before the change of power, Joe Biden wanted to make history again: He was the first US president to visit the Amazon rainforest on Sunday – as a sign of his commitment to combating climate change.
Biden promised $50 million to protect the rainforest and indirectly addressed his successor. “A few people might try to deny or delay America's clean energy revolution. But no one can turn it around, no one,” Biden said.
Is that also a signal to Trump? Biden promised $50 million in the Brazilian rainforest.
Promote renewable energies…
No one? Donald Trump, the next US president, has plans to do just that. He believes climate change is a big hoax and wants to cash in on Biden's climate protection plans. This was a waste of money, he said during the election campaign.
And so the Biden administration is rushing to release as much money as possible from the anti-inflation law by January – for example for the construction of factories for solar systems and batteries. Republican-governed states also benefit from this.
… and become more independent from China
The CHIPS law is intended to boost semiconductor production in the USA with billions of dollars. Only a fraction has so far reached the companies. Now the money flows faster. The chip manufacturer TSMC from Taiwan just received more than six billion dollars to build a factory in Arizona.
That's great for the US, great for Arizona's self-reliance and fantastic for the job market, says Hitendra Chaturvedi, a professor at Arizona State University and supply chain expert. This is in no way a political matter, it is about the economy, said Chaturvedi on ABC television. Trump should also notice this. Collecting this law could fail due to resistance from our own MPs.
What's next for Ukraine?
Ukraine is also high on Biden’s to-do list. Foreign Minister Antony Blinken was just in Brussels at NATO to calm nerves there. Biden will make every dollar he has available, Blinken promised, with a view to military aid for Ukraine.
It's mainly about the 61 billion that Congress recently decided. In addition, Biden is now making things possible that he had previously resisted. US media reports that Biden is now allowing Ukraine to use longer-range missiles against Russia for the first time. The concern: Trump could stop aid to Ukraine.
Biden could send a signal against the death penalty
What all presidents like to do often in the last few meters is to issue pardons and reduce sentences. Biden hasn't announced anything yet, only this much: He will not pardon his son Hunter. Hunter Biden was convicted of tax evasion, among other things. The sentence has not yet been determined.
Civil rights organizations are urging Biden to spare the lives of the 40 men sentenced to death under federal law. During the 2020 election campaign, Biden promised to abolish the death penalty at the federal level, but then merely suspended the execution of the sentences.
He could commute the death penalty to life imprisonment. Trump, on the other hand, had 13 men executed in his first term in office. And he wants to continue when he takes office.
