Transcript - Speech: Joe Biden Delivers a Speech on Foreign Policy in New York, NY - July 11, 2019 | Factba.se

Joe Biden

00:00:00 - 00:00:30 ()

Mr. President, Chancellor, thank you, CUNY, for hosting us and for welcoming generations, literally generations of new Americans to wider and bigger and a more optimistic future. You've done so much for so many people for so long. And was a pleasure to -- you -- to -- to meet you all, including you, provost.

Joe Biden

00:00:30 - 00:01:04 ()

I want to make sure I acknowledge who really does a lot of the work here. But thank you for allowing us to use this forum. Ladies and gentlemen, political wisdom holds that Americans -- the American public doesn't vote on foreign policy. But I think that's an old way of thinking. In 2019, foreign policy is domestic policy, in my view, and domestic policy is foreign policy.

Joe Biden

00:01:04 - 00:01:32 ()

They are deeply connected, a deeply connected set of choices we make about how to advance the American way of life and our vision for the future. And like everything about this election, the threat that I believe President Trump poses to our national security and -- and where we are as a country is extreme, and I don't think we can afford to ignore it.

Joe Biden

00:01:32 - 00:02:03 ()

His erratic policies and failures to uphold basic democratic principles have muddled our reputation and our place in the world, and I, quite frankly, believe our ability to lead the world. So let me start today by reminding everyone about what has been the -- what has been lost with the chest thumping and self-inflicted setbacks and the manufactured crises of this administration.

Joe Biden

00:02:03 - 00:02:32 ()

Folks, American foreign policy I think has to be purposeful and inspiring, based on clear goals driven by sound strategies, not by Twitter tantrums. And the overarching purpose of our foreign policy, I believe, must be to defend and advance our security, prosperity, and democratic values that the United States stands for.

Joe Biden

00:02:32 - 00:03:11 ()

Every president, Democrat and Republican in modern history prior to Donald Trump has understood and carried out this basic directive, often in perfectly, but have -- we've never before has it been so thoroughly abandoned. I knew when I saw Donald Trump respond to the events in Charlottesville, assigning a moral equivalence between those who promoted hate and those who opposed it, that the threat to our democracy was unlike any time, at least in my lifetime.

Joe Biden

00:03:11 - 00:03:39 ()

Less than a year later, Trump, again, stood before the press, this time on foreign soil in Helsinki and repeatedly deferred to Vladimir Putin over Americans' interest, the American intelligence community, and I would argue, over the American people's interest. I think it was one of the most shameful performances by a U.S. president in modern history.

Joe Biden

00:03:39 - 00:04:28 ()

And one of -- one where we saw repeated again that last month at the G20 summit where Trump smirked along with Putin making a joke out of Russia's very real and very dangerous assault on our electoral institutions. Trump's view, in my view, debases our cherished democratic values. At the very time a sycophant to a strong man he plays that role when he refuses to condemn Saudi Arabia for the gruesome murder of a journalist and American resident and when he falls in love with a murderous dictator in North Korea.

Joe Biden

00:04:28 - 00:05:07 ()

I know it's not literal but think what message it sends around the world. He undermines our democratic alliances while embracing dictators who -- who appeal to his vanity and make no mistake about it, the world sees Trump for what he is, insincere, ill-informed, and impulsive and sometimes corrupt, dangerously incompetent and incapable, in my view, of world leadership and leadership at home.

Joe Biden

00:05:07 - 00:05:40 ()

It's why we've seen such a precipitous drop and how the rest of the world views the United States of America. One recent poll on America's leadership is now less respected than China's, and on a par with Russia's. And if we give Donald Trump for more years, we'll have a great deal of difficulty of ever being able to recover America America's standing in the world and our capacity to bring nations together, which is desperately needed.

Joe Biden

00:05:40 - 00:06:32 ()

And I think it would be catastrophic to our national security and to our future. We can't let that happen. As president of the United States, I would remind the world that we are the United States of America and we do not coddle dictators. The United States of America gives hate no safe harbor. There will be no more Charlottesville's, no more Helsinki's. The challenge of following this disastrous [Inaudible] will not be just to restore the reputation and our credibility, it will be to enact a forward-looking foreign policy for the world as we find it today and as we anticipate it will be tomorrow and years to come.

Joe Biden

00:06:32 - 00:06:56 ()

Much has shifted in the past two years. The international landscape is more crowded, competitive, and complicated. And when we look at what's different today, two key points jump out to me. One is that the speed and intensity of the gravest dangers means that the fates of nations are more intertwined than they ever have been.

Joe Biden

00:06:56 - 00:07:36 ()

Climate change, nuclear proliferation, international and transnational terrorism, cyber warfare, disruptive new technologies, mass migration, they're moving like Moore's law is moving. None -- none of them can be resolved by the United States alone or any nation acting alone. American security, prosperity, and our way of life require the strongest possible network of partners and alliances working alongside one another.

Joe Biden

00:07:36 - 00:08:24 ()

Donald Trump's brand of America first has too often lead to America alone, making it much harder to mobilize others to address the threats to our common well-being. The second concern is the rapid advance of authoritarianism, nationalism, and [Inaudible] tendencies around the world, not just in Russia and China, but also among our allies, places like Turkey, the Philippines, Hungary, and every part of the world technology and instant information are driving change at unprecedented speed and scope, causing many people, home and abroad, to feel confused and very vulnerable.

Joe Biden

00:08:24 - 00:09:09 ()

Democratic governments paralyzed by hyper-partisanship, hobbled by corruption are having a harder time delivering to their people. Trust in institutions around the world is down and fear of the other his way up. Together in my view, these forces have driven dangerous resurgence of extreme nationalism and of liberalism, of protectionism and xenophobia, and Donald Trump and the Democrats -- the demagogues around the world are learned -- are leaning into these forces for their own personal and political gain.

Joe Biden

00:09:09 - 00:09:38 ()

But in my view, if we focus, this is not a moment to fear. It's a time for us to tap into the strength and audacity that took us to victory in two world wars and brought down the Iron Curtain. That triumph of democracy and liberalism over fascist and autocracy is what created the free world. And this contest won't just define our past, it will define our future.

Joe Biden

00:09:38 - 00:10:20 ()

Today, democracy is under intense pressure more than any time since the 30s, in my view. Freedom House has reported that of the 41 countries consistently ranked as free from 1985 to 2005, 22 have registered net declines in freedom in the last five years. Yet, while the world's democracies look to America to stand for the values that unite us and truly lead the free world, Donald Trump seems to be on the other team.

Joe Biden

00:10:20 - 00:10:53 ()

While those living under oppression, yearning for freedom look to the United States for hope, Trump has nothing really to offer. We can't forget that democracy is the road our society, the route and wellspring of our power and the source of our renewal. It strengthens and amplifies our leadership to keep us safe in the world and it's the engine of our ingenuity that has driven all our economic process and progress.

Joe Biden

00:10:53 - 00:11:30 ()

You know, it's the heart of who we are and how we see the world, but maybe equally important, how the world sees us. As president, I will ensure that democracy is once again the watchword of U.S. foreign policy, not to launch some moral crusade, but because it's in our enlightened self-interest. We have to restore our ability to rally the free world so we can once more make a stand upon new fields of action together to face new challenges.

Joe Biden

00:11:30 - 00:11:54 ()

We only have one opportunity to reset this democracy after Trump and we have to be prepared to make the most of it. So what does it mean, at least from my perspective, in practice? First, it means repairing and reinvigorating our own democracy, even as we strengthen coalitions of democracies that will stand with us on every continent.

Joe Biden

00:11:54 - 00:12:19 ()

I'll start by putting our own house in order, remaking our education system so a child's opportunity in life isn't determined by their ZIP Code or their race. Reforming our criminal justice system to eliminate inequities and disparities in the system and putting teeth back in our voting rights acts. I will seek the greater transparency in our campaign-finance systems.

Joe Biden

00:12:19 - 00:12:50 ()

We need to get big money out altogether and ensure that foreign dark money doesn't continue to pollute our politics. We need -- we need, in my view, to dedicate greater resources, including cyber resources to defending our electoral system, which is still under siege. I served as a founding member of the transatlantic commission on election integrity to fight back against Russia's attacks on Western democracies.

Joe Biden

00:12:50 - 00:13:20 ()

We asked candidates all across Europe and North America to sign a pledge committing to transparency in campaign finances and to reject the use of fabricated and hacked material. Now that I'm a candidate for office, I've signed that pledge myself and I urge everyone running for president, including the president of the United States, to sign that same pledge.

Joe Biden

00:13:20 - 00:13:44 ()

It's the right thing to do. As individuals and as a nation we have to prove to the world the United States is prepared to lead, not just by the example of our power, but by the power of our example. To that end, as president, I will take decisive steps to renew our American values by returning transparency to our government.

Joe Biden

00:13:44 - 00:14:14 ()

We believe in freedom of religion. That's why I will end the Muslim ban. We believe in free speech, that's why I will end the gag rule, the global gag rule that prevents money from getting to NGOs who even talk about family planning. We believe in the power of free press, that's why I will return immediately to daily press briefings in the White House, the State Department, and the Defense Department.

Joe Biden

00:14:14 - 00:14:44 ()

We are a nation of immigrants, but President Trump took those words, those literal words, nation of immigrants out of the statement, the mission statement of our citizenship and immigration services. I will restore those words. It matters. Our Statue of Liberty, not very far away from here, says -- invites us to welcome the tired, the poor, the huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

Joe Biden

00:14:44 - 00:15:09 ()

I'll reverse Trump's detrimental asylum policies, raise our target for refugees to a level commensurate with our responsibility and the unprecedented global need that exists. The Biden administration would immediately end the horrific practice of separating families at our borders, holding children in for-profit detentions.

Joe Biden

00:15:09 - 00:15:41 ()

There is no need for us to do that and still protect our borders. I'd order a review with temporary protective status to vulnerable populations who cannot fully believe and find the safety of their own countries, ripped apart by violence and disasters, including Venezuela's Venezuelans and Haitians. We've always been a nation that chooses science over fiction.

Joe Biden

00:15:41 - 00:16:09 ()

And from climate change to standards to harmful environmental toxins, the global health policy, we're going to return facts to our policy making. I'll renew governmentwide focus on uplifting the rights of women and girls at home and abroad and revitalize our national commitment to advancing human rights and democracy around the world.

Joe Biden

00:16:09 - 00:16:34 ()

These changes and many more, which I've released on our website, are just a start, a day one down payment on our commitment to living our democratic values at home. And then I will invite fellow Democratic leaders, and I mean this, invite fellow Democratic leaders to put strengthening democracy back in the global stage.

Joe Biden

00:16:34 - 00:17:12 ()

I will organize and host the United States during my first year in administration, were I to be elected, a global summit for democracy, renewal of the spirit and shared purpose of the nations of the free world. Building off the successful model we instituted during the Obama-Biden administration with the Nuclear Safety Summit, leaders who attend must come prepared to cooperate and make concrete commitments to take on corruption and advance human rights in their own nations.

Joe Biden

00:17:12 - 00:17:42 ()

We have to be honest about, excuse me, to be honest about our friends that are falling short and forge a common agenda to address the greatest threats to our shared values. We will include civil society organizations from around the world that stand on the front lines in defense of democracy in their countries.

Joe Biden

00:17:42 - 00:18:20 ()

We'll challenge the private sector, including the tech companies and social media giants to make their own commitments. America's openness fueled their success. Now I believe they have a duty to make sure their algorithm and platforms are not misused to sow division here at home for empower the surveillance states to be able to facilitate their oppression and censorship in China or elsewhere to spread hate or to spur people to violence.

Joe Biden

00:18:20 - 00:18:53 ()

Secondly, I will equip our people to succeed in the new global economy with a foreign policy for the middle class. To win the competition of the future, we have to double down on sharpening our innovative edge, uniting economic might of our friends and other -- and other abusive practices to take them on.

Joe Biden

00:18:53 - 00:19:18 ()

We know -- we know that economic security is national security, but there are a lot of communities across the country who are hurting because we -- we've neglected the basics. Our trade policy has a start at home by strengthening, by strengthening by strengthening our greatest asset, the middle class. For when it does well, everyone does well.

Joe Biden

00:19:18 - 00:19:43 ()

We have to take care of everything I've talked about on the campaign trail by giving every student the skill and training they need to compete in the 21st century for those jobs in the 21st century. America has access to quality and affordable healthcare, which is absolutely necessary to invigorate that class.

Joe Biden

00:19:43 - 00:20:14 ()

Investing and rebuilding on our infrastructure bridge -- bridges, roads, modernizing airports, high-speed rail, making sure Americans have access to broadband networks, reforming -- reforming our taxes to reward work, not just wealth, listening and leading on a clean economy revolution to create 10 million new jobs here in the United States that pay well, allowing us to eventually export those technologies overseas.

Joe Biden

00:20:14 - 00:20:42 ()

I'll invest in research and development. The cornerstone of my presidency will be just that, so the United States is leading the charge for innovation around the world. There is no reason we should be failing or falling behind anyone, China or anyone else when it comes to energy, quantum computing, artificial intelligence, 5G, high-speed rail.

Joe Biden

00:20:42 - 00:21:07 ()

Folks, we have the greatest research universities in the history of the world. We have more of them here than anywhere in the rest of the world combined. That we cannot ensure that our people are ready for this transition that will inevitably accompany any new technology would be a disaster. We need the most agile system to accommodate these changes.

Joe Biden

00:21:07 - 00:21:36 ()

Folks, we are virtually -- we are virtually energy independent. We have a strong tradition in the rule of law. I see Jack Gunfronds . That's why the rest of the world invests here, Jack, as you know better than I do because they know they're safe. And most important, we have an extraordinary population of workers and innovators who've never, ever, ever let our country down when given half a chance.

Joe Biden

00:21:36 - 00:22:15 ()

A foreign policy with the middle class will also work to make sure the rules for international economy are not rigged against us because when American business compete on a fair playing field, we when. President Trump may think his being tough on China, all that he has delivered as a consequence of that is America farmers, manufacturers and consumers losing and paying more.

Joe Biden

00:22:15 - 00:22:56 ()

His economic decision-making is so shortsighted and as shortsighted as his foreign policy, China is playing the long game extending his global reach, investing in technology of the future. When Trump is designating from Canada to European Union as national security threats in order to be able to impose damaging and pointless tariffs by cutting us off from the economic clout of our partners, he kneecaps our capacity to take on real economic threats.

Joe Biden

00:22:56 - 00:23:37 ()

We need to get tough with China. If China has its way, it's going to keep -- it's going to keep moving and robbing U.S. firms of our technology, intellectual property, and forcing American companies to give away -- give it away in order to do business in China. In the most effective way, that we need to change is to build a united front of friends and partners to challenge China's abusive behavior, even as we seek to deepen cooperation on issues where our interests are converged like climate change and preventing a nuclear proliferation.

Joe Biden

00:23:37 - 00:24:02 ()

There's not going to be a back to business as usual on trade with me. We need new rules. We need new processes that has the voices of all the shareholders at the table, including leaders representing labor and the environment. We must negotiate from the strongest possible position. On our own, we represent a quarter of the world's GDP.

Joe Biden

00:24:02 - 00:24:55 ()

But when we are joined by fellow democracies, that number doubles. China can't afford to ignore half the global economy if we are united. That gives us substantial leverage to shape the future rules of the road on everything from the environment to labor to trade to technology to transparency so we can continue to reflect the Democratic interest and values, America's interest in values, not China, not Russia's. The world is does not organize itself, and if we do not shape the norms and institutions that governs relations among nations, rest assured that some nation will step into the vacuum or no one will, and chaos will prevail.

Joe Biden

00:24:55 - 00:25:18 ()

Which brings me to my final point, the Biden Foreign Policy Agenda will place America back at the head of the table working with our allies and our partners to mobilize global action on global threats, especially those unique to our country. American leadership is not infallible. We've made missteps and mistakes.

Joe Biden

00:25:18 - 00:25:45 ()

Too often, we rely solely on the might of our military instead of drawing on the full array of our strengths. But let me be clear, I will never hesitate to protect the American people, including when necessary by the use of force. As vice president, I worked with President Obama to craft the military and diplomatic campaign that ultimately defeated ISIS.

Joe Biden

00:25:45 - 00:26:10 ()

In fact, it turned out Trump's secret weapon to destroy the so-called caliphate was a continuation of the plan we put in place with personnel we had put in place. We have the strongest military in the world, and I would argue in the history of the world. But as president, I will ensure it stays that way.

Joe Biden

00:26:10 - 00:26:38 ()

I will make investments necessary to equip our troops for the challenges of this century, not the last century. This one and the next one. But the use of force should be a last resort, not a first, used only to defend our vital interest when the objective is clear and achievable and with the informed, I inform emphasize the informed consent of the American people.

Joe Biden

00:26:38 - 00:27:12 ()

It's long past time we end the forever wars, which have caused us untold blood and treasure. I have long argued that we should bring home the vast majority of our combat troops from the wars in Afghanistan and the Middle East and narrowly focus on our mission to deal with al-Qaeda and ISIS in the region, and we should end our support for the Saudi led war in Yemen.

Joe Biden

00:27:12 - 00:27:44 ()

It's hurting us. Staying entrenched in unwinnable contact conflicts, drains our capacity to lead on so many other issues that require our attention. It prevents us from building the other instruments of American power. So I'm making my mission I'll make it my mission to restore American leadership, elevate diplomacy as a principal tool or a foreign policy.

Joe Biden

00:27:44 - 00:28:24 ()

I will reinvest in a diplomatic corps that this administration has hollowed out and put our diplomacy back in the hands of genuine professionals so that you don't hear an echo on the seventh floor of the State Department any longer. Above all, and I see some diplomats here with our administration and others, above all, diplomacy requires credibility, and Donald Trump has absolutely corroded our country's credibility.

Joe Biden

00:28:24 - 00:28:58 ()

You know, in the conduct of America's foreign policy in especially times of crisis, the president of the United States word, his or her word is the single most valuable asset the country has. By pulling out of treaty after treaty, reneging on policy after policy, walking away from America's responsibilities and lying about matters big and small, this president has bankrupted America's word in the world at the moment.

Joe Biden

00:28:58 - 00:29:37 ()

He has -- he has, I don't know how to say it from -- he's alienated us from the very democratic allies we need most. Trump has taken a battering ram to the NATO alliance. He treats it like it's some kind of American wrong protection racket. He just doesn't get it. I really don't think he gets it. NATO is at its heart, the very heart of NATO and our national security, more than that, it is -- it is a alliance of values.

Joe Biden

00:29:37 - 00:30:07 ()

It's an alliance of values. It makes it far more durable reliable and powerful in partnerships built on cohesion -- excuse me, coercion and on cash. The same is true of our core alliances in Asia. Let me be clear, working cooperatively with other nations to share our values and goals doesn't make America, as it seems to be implied in this administration, suckers.

Joe Biden

00:30:07 - 00:30:39 ()

It makes us more secure, enables us to be more successful. We amplify our own strengths, extend our presence around the globe, magnify our impact while sharing the burden of leadership with our partners. No country, even one as powerful as ours, can go it alone in the challenge of the 21st century that respect no borders and cannot be contained by any walls.

Joe Biden

00:30:39 - 00:31:10 ()

As president, I will do more than just restore the historic partnerships. I will lead an effort to reimagine them, to better meet the challenges we are grappling with today in the next 20 or 30 years. To keep NATO military capability sharp, while also expanding our capacity to take on nontraditional threats like weaponized corruption, cyber theft, new challenges in space and in the high seas.

Joe Biden

00:31:10 - 00:31:51 ()

And by the way, the increased NATO in NATO defense spending, I would point out, started under the Obama-Biden administration. We need to look for opportunities to strengthen cooperation with domestic friends beyond North America and Europe. Reaching to our partners in Asia, including Japan, South Korea, Australia, India to fortify our collective capabilities, sustaining -- sustaining our iron clad commitments to Israel security, regardless of how much you may disagree with its present leader.

Joe Biden

00:31:51 - 00:32:30 ()

It is essential. Integrating our friends in Latin America and Africa and seizing opportunities throughout the broader network of democracies. In order -- in order to gain and regain the confidence of the world, we need to have -- we have to prove again that America says what it means and means what it says, especially when it comes to the challenges that will define our time, the renewal threat -- the renewed threat of nuclear war, mass migration, disruptive technologies, climate change.

Joe Biden

00:32:30 - 00:32:57 ()

We cannot be a credible voice on the proliferation of nuclear security -- on proliferation and nuclear security while we are abandoning the very deals that we had negotiated. From North Korea to Iran, Russia to Saudi Arabia, Trump has made the prospect of nuclear proliferation a new nuclear arms race, and even the use of nuclear weapons more likely, not less.

Joe Biden

00:32:57 - 00:33:28 ()

I've worked on these issues my entire career. I understand what's at stake and I understand the consequences of failing to act. That's why as president, I'd renew our commitment to arms-control for a new era. The historic Iran nuclear deal we negotiated blocked Iran from gaining nuclear weapons with inspectors on the ground, international inspectors confirming that the agreement was being kept.

Joe Biden

00:33:28 - 00:34:00 ()

Yet, Trump cast it aside, prompting Iran to restart its nuclear program and become more provocative and raising the risks of another disastrous war in the region. If Tehran returns to compliance with the deal, I would rejoin the agreement and work with our allies to strengthen and extend it while more effectively pushing back against Iran's destabilizing activities, which under the agreement, we were allowed to do and had partners to do it with us.

Joe Biden

00:34:00 - 00:34:32 ()

In North Korea, I will empower our negotiators to jumpstart and sustain coordinated campaign with our allies and others, including China, to advance our shared objective, and it is a shared objective, a denuclearized North Korea. I'll pursuing an extension of the new start treaty, an anchor of strategic stability between the United States and Russia and use that as a foundation for new arms control agreement.

Joe Biden

00:34:32 - 00:34:55 ()

I would take other steps as well to demonstrate our commitment to reducing the role of nuclear weapons. As I said in 2017, while we were still in office, I believe the sole purpose of U.S. nuclear arsenal should be deterring, and if necessary, retaliating against a nuclear attack. As president, I'll work to put that belief into practice after consultation with our allies and our military.

Joe Biden

00:34:55 - 00:35:46 ()

By the same measure, we cannot push nations to meet their humanitarian obligations to address the biggest refugee migration crisis since World War II if we are unwilling, if we are unwilling to live up to our democratic values and firmly reject Trump's nativist rhetoric. It stands out that we, it stands, our nation when our fathers -- when you see a father and a daughter's body on a shore, dead when children are taken away from their parents, stuck in overcrowded detention facilities, denied the most basic necessities.

Joe Biden

00:35:46 - 00:36:13 ()

When families are ripped apart, abandoning our deepestly held values, it does nothing, does nothing to increase our security at the border and everything to diminish our standing in the world and the ability to lead by the power of our example. We need sensible policies to improve screening priorities at our legal points of entry, to make smart investments in border technology.

Joe Biden

00:36:13 - 00:36:46 ()

We need to work again with Canada and Mexico as neighbors, not as adversaries -- as adversaries, and we need to focus on the root causes driving migrants to our borders in the first place. As vice president, I secured commitments from leaders of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras after multiple, multiple meetings to take on corruption, violence, and the endemic poverty in those countries that are the driving force of sending people away from their homes and to our borders.

Joe Biden

00:36:46 - 00:37:16 ()

And then I worked with Congress in a bipartisan effort to get $750 million aid package to help support those reforms. And guess what? It was working. Security improved. Migrant flows began to decrease in countries like El Salvador. But Trump announced the end of our aid to central America via a tweet with no understanding of the consequences.

Joe Biden

00:37:16 - 00:37:44 ()

If elected president, I'll relaunch that initiative with a top to bottom review of our funding to the region, determine how we can continue to drive reforms that deliver results, and they will deliver results. When it comes to technologies for the future like 5G, artificial intelligence, other nations are devoting national resources and dominating their development, determining how they will be used.

Joe Biden

00:37:44 - 00:38:13 ()

We have to ensure that 21st century technologies are used to promote greater democracy, shared prosperity, not to curve freedom and opportunity either at home or abroad. As new technologies shape our economies and societies, we have to ensure that these engines of progress are bound by laws and ethics. We have done it at every technological turning point in our history.

Joe Biden

00:38:13 - 00:38:41 ()

The Biden administration would join together with our democratic allies to develop secure, private sector led 5G networks, leaving no community, rural or low income, behind. And the last example I will end with today is how the United States must lead to the world to take on the existential threat we all face, climate change.

Joe Biden

00:38:41 - 00:39:14 ()

If we don't get this right, not much else will matter. I'll put us on a track to achieve a clean energy economy with zero emissions, net zero emissions, by 2050. And equally important, because the United States makes up only 15 percent of global emissions, I'll leverage our economic and our moral authority to put the world on a more urgent curse course by rejoining the Paris Climate Accord and convene a summit of the world.

Joe Biden

00:39:14 - 00:39:54 ()

And that accord, as negotiated, said we have to up the ante. Convening a summit of the world's largest carbon emitters relying -- relying on nations to raise their ambitions and push progress further and faster. We'll look -- we'll look for enforceable commitments that will produce emissions -- reduce emissions and global shipping and aviation, we'll pursue strong measures to make sure other nations can't undercut us economically as we meet our commitments.

Joe Biden

00:39:54 - 00:40:27 ()

That includes insisting that China, the world's largest emitter of carbon, stops subsidizing coal exports, outsourcing pollution to other countries by financing billions of dollars of dirty fossil fuel energy projects through their belt and road initiative. These are ambitious goals, I acknowledge. I won't accomplish any of them without the United States flanked by our fellow democracies is leading the way.

Joe Biden

00:40:27 - 00:41:00 ()

We are facing entered enemies both without and from within, hoping to exploit the fissures and our society, undermine democracy, break up our alliances, return us to an international system that might determines right. The answer to this threat is more openness, not less. More friendships, more cooperations, more alliances, more democracies.

Joe Biden

00:41:00 - 00:41:42 ()

Vladimir Putin wants to tell himself and anyone who he can dupe into believing that the liberal idea, that liberal idea is obsolete because he understands its power. No army on earth can match the electric idea of liberty passing freely from person to person. It jumps borders, it transcends languages and cultures, and it can supercharge communities of ordinary citizens into activists and organizers for change agents.

Joe Biden

00:41:42 - 00:42:12 ()

We must once more harness that power and rally the free world to meet the challenges facing us today. And it falls to the United States of America to lead the way. No other nation has the capacity to do it. No other nation was built on that ideal, that promise alone, and it's overwhelming overwhelmingly in our self-interest.

Joe Biden

00:42:12 - 00:42:52 ()

We have an obligation to champion liberty and democracy. We have to retain our credibility. We have to look with unrelenting optimism and determination toward the future because we can do this. We have to remember who in God's name we are. Not how it -- this is the United States of America. There's not a damn thing we've been unable to do when we've done it together.

Joe Biden

00:42:52 - 00:43:00 ()

Thank you for listening to a very thorough speech. May God bless you all, and may God protect our troops. Thank you. Where am I going?