Biden faces awkward reality in Europe during maiden overseas trip

U.S. President Joe Biden's first overseas trip as president is overshadowed not only by the newly exposed scandal of U.S. spying on European politicians, but also other issues that threaten to divide the Western allies.

Among other issues that potentially divide the allies, such as NATO defense budget, Airbus-Boeing dispute and vaccine sharing, Northern Ireland in the context of Brexit may stand as another thorny issue during Biden's trip to Europe.

LONDON, June 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Joe Biden arrived in Britain on Wednesday evening for his first overseas visit since his election victory, but he may find himself in an awkward position while trying to mend transatlantic relations.

Biden will attend the summit of Group of Seven (G7) in Britain's southwestern resort of Carbis Bay on Friday, before heading to Brussels for NATO and EU-U.S. summits next week. He will then fly to Geneva to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin.

His trip is overshadowed not only by the newly exposed scandal of U.S. spying on European politicians, but also other issues that threaten to divide the Western allies.

TRUST UNDERMINED

Across Europe, eyebrows are being raised as Biden set his foot on Britain, the first leg of his European tour. Recent reports of U.S. spying on European politicians, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel, has triggered an uproar among European leaders and further strained transatlantic ties.

France and Germany have deplored the alleged spying as "unacceptable," and demanded "full clarity" from the U.S. side. French President Emmanuel Macron called for "complete transparency and resolution of the matter by our Danish and American partners." In response, Merkel said she "could only agree" with Macron's comments.

It is yet to be seen how the allies will be able to rebuild trust.

Meanwhile, Europe is still reeling from the repercussions left by Donald Trump's administration, said Julian Mueller-Kaler, a researcher at the Berlin-based thinktank German Council on Foreign Relations.

"The Trump administration's 'America First' policy was very disturbing, because it didn't necessarily listen to European economic interests," Mueller-Kaler told Xinhua.

"I think that the four years of the Trump presidency have left Europe somewhat standing on the sidelines, wondering about the transatlantic relationship in American leadership," he said.

"So there's quite a bit of symbolism attached to the trip that Biden is making," he added.

THORNY ISSUE OF NORTHERN IRELAND

Among other issues that potentially divide the allies, such as NATO defense budget, Airbus-Boeing dispute and vaccine sharing, Northern Ireland in the context of Brexit may stand as another thorny issue during Biden's trip to Europe.

The British government has threatened to unilaterally extend the customs grace period on Irish Sea border checks over imports of some products to Northern Ireland from Great Britain, over which the EU is vowing retaliation.

Britain's chief Brexit negotiator David Frost said Wednesday that talks with the EU on the Northern Ireland Protocol produced no breakthroughs as tension rises between both sides on post-Brexit trade.

According to the Times newspaper, Biden will likely warn British Prime Minister Boris Johnson "not to renege" on the Northern Ireland Brexit deal when they meet Thursday for the first time during his visit.

Biden is expected to tell Johnson that the United States sees the deal, agreed by Johnson in 2019, as an integral part of maintaining long-term peace in Northern Ireland and in particular the Good Friday Agreement of which America is a guarantor, said the report.

In particular, Biden is likely to stress that the prospects of the U.S. trade deal with Britain will be damaged if the situation remains unresolved, it said.

The U.S. president is also likely to make it clear to Brussels that he expects the EU to stop being "bureaucratic" and adopt a more flexible approach to the implementation of the agreement, said the report.

Northern Ireland Protocol, designed to prevent a hard land border in Ireland, has effectively kept Northern Ireland inside the EU's single market and customs union after Brexit. This has imposed new restrictions on trade between Great Britain and Northern Ireland and angered unionists who see it as a threat to the region's status in Britain.

It is uncertain how the United States and its European allies are able to find solutions to these issues, not least regarding Northern Ireland, as a lack of trust seems to remain the issue.

"We have proven that we want to be pragmatic, but pragmatism requires trust. If you don't have trust and if you create frustration then these are not the best conditions to find consensual solutions," Joao Vale de Almeida, the EU ambassador to Britain, told Times Radio.