Biden Slams ‘Irrational’ Foreign Policy as Trump Departs for G-7

(Bloomberg) -- Joe Biden offered a prebuttal to Donald Trump’s statements on economics and foreign policy on Friday before the president was due to leave the country for the Group of Seven meeting, at which point Biden said he’d refrain from critical commentary.

“This week, in the lead-up to the G-7 in France, President Trump has continued his irrational and self-defeating campaign to make America less secure and less respected in the world,” the former vice president said in a statement provided to Bloomberg News.

Biden, who spent decades on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has sought to use his extensive foreign policy experience as a cudgel against Trump and as a distinguishing factor with his many Democratic opponents.

Pointing to comments the president has made in recent days on Denmark, NATO and Russian efforts to rejoin the G-7, an organization of the world’s largest advanced economies, Biden said, “Trump’s actions and words are not just embarrassing -- they are making the American people less safe.”

“Every incident further isolates us on the global stage, reinforcing that his version of ‘America First’ means ‘America alone,’” Biden added.

Biden also said that French President Emmanuel Macron had decided not to issue a traditional joint communique at the end of the summit, in Biden’s view because “President Trump refuses to cooperate with our partners on the pressing issues of our time.”

Earlier this week, Trump postponed a planned visit to Denmark in early September after Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen rejected his proposal for the U.S. to buy Greenland, a Danish territory, as “an absurd discussion.” Trump later called the Danish leader “nasty.”

Biden said Trump “has insulted our closest partners and denigrated one of our most capable allies, Denmark -- a country that has repeatedly fought and sacrificed alongside our troops.”

Trump used the incident to criticize Denmark for not paying its full commitment to NATO of 2% of its GDP on defense spending and of NATO as a whole. That amounted to Trump “reiterating his belief that NATO is an American-run protection racket where our allies better pay up, or else,” Biden said.

While Trump’s actions threaten “to permanently reduce America’s standing” in the world, Biden said that if he’s elected, he will “once again lead the international community in a way that is consistent with our most cherished values, standing with -- not against -- the rest of the free world.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Epstein in Washington at jepstein32@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Wendy Benjaminson, Ros Krasny

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