Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said on Saturday that he expected major changes in the United States’ international role with Joe Biden as president.
Haavisto was interviewed on an election special on Yle TV1 on Saturday when Biden’s win looked likely, but before it was confirmed by major American media networks around 6pm Finnish time.
Haavisto outlined three major issues where he expected Biden administration policies to differ from those of outgoing President Donald Trump.
“One is the climate question and the handling of it,” said Haavisto. “The US can take leadership on it. The US has a lot of know-how and companies that produce technology that will be needed to defeat the climate crisis, and Biden sees an opportunity in that.”
Secondly, he pointed to internal divisions in the US, citing the discussion of racism and police violence that has spurred the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Biden clearly has a desire to try to unite the nation without this polarisation,” said Haavisto.
Leadership on vaccine
The third key difference, Haavisto predicted, would be in the handling of the coronavirus pandemic: “not just how it has been managed – or not managed – in the US but also the country’s role internationally, in developing a vaccine and supporting the World Health Organisation and the UN so that the crisis can be handled. Here I can see Biden being more active,” Haavisto said.
The foreign minister added that he saw Trump’s unsupported claims of election fraud as a test of the cornerstones of US democracy.
Haavisto, a former UN official, environment minister and Greens chair, has run for president twice, losing in 2012 in a run-off against Sauli Niinistö, who has been president ever since. Niinistö has held talks with Trump several times, including during the summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Helsinki in 2018.