World leaders paid tribute to Joe Biden after the US president announced he wouldn’t run for re-election in November, becoming the primary incumbent president to drop out of a presidential campaign since 1968.
Biden, 81, has been under intense pressure from senior Democratic Party figures to step down after his disastrous performance in the talk against Donald Trump last month raised doubts about whether he could beat his Republican rival and raised concerns about his mental abilities.
The prospect of 78-year-old Trump returning to the White House has prompted the US's traditional allies in Europe to organize for a more aggressive and transactional foreign policy, shifting the main focus away from Ukraine and using tariffs as a geoeconomic weapon against China and Europe.
Vice President Kamala Harris is taken into account the favourite to succeed, although she just isn’t particularly well-known in Europe and Asia. Here are the reactions of politicians from world wide:
Donald Tusk, Polish Prime Minister
“Mr President @JoeBiden, you have often made difficult decisions that have made Poland, America and the world safer and democracy and freedom stronger,” Tusk said on X. “I know you had the same in mind when you announced your last decision. Perhaps the most difficult thing in life.”
Simon Harris, Irish Prime Minister
“In all his roles, Joe Biden has been a steadfast voice and passionate champion for peace on the island of Ireland, and our country owes him much for that,” Harris wrote on X. “On a personal level, President Biden is a proud American with an Irish soul. When he arrived in Belfast, Louth and Mayo last year, he himself said it was like coming home.”
Pedro Sanchez, Spanish Prime Minister
“All my admiration and respect for the courageous and dignified decision of President @JoeBiden,” Sanchez said on X. “Thanks to his determination and leadership, the United States has overcome the post-pandemic economic crisis and the serious attack on the Capitol and provided exemplary support to Ukraine.”
“A great gesture from a great president who has always fought for democracy and freedom.”
Petr Fiala, Czech Prime Minister
“It is undoubtedly the decision of a statesman who has served his country for decades,” Fiala said on X. “It is a responsible and personally difficult step, but it is all the more valuable. I keep my fingers crossed for the United States that a good president will emerge from the democratic competition between two strong and equal candidates.”
Isaac Herzog, Israeli President
“I want to express my deepest gratitude to Joe Biden for his friendship and unwavering support of the Israeli people throughout his decades-long career,” Herzog said on X. “As the first U.S. president to visit Israel in wartime, a recipient of Israel's Presidential Medal of Honor, and a true ally of the Jewish people, he is a symbol of the unbreakable bond between our two peoples. I send him, Jill Biden, and his entire family my warmest wishes from Jerusalem.”
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil
Lula believes there continues to be time for U.S. Democrats to show the tables, as appointing a brand new candidate offers a chance to bolster support amongst voters and donors, two foreign policy advisers to the Brazilian president say.
Lula and his government are very sympathetic to Kamala Harris. She could win the feminine vote – something that Hillary Clinton didn’t do in 2016 – because society is changing and misogyny is becoming less tolerated, the advisers said. That should make it harder for Trump to attack Harris, they said. Their reasoning: While it is straightforward for Trump to call Biden senile, it would be harder to attack a black woman without offending hundreds of thousands of female voters within the country.
With support from Andrea Dudik, Natalia Ojewska, Alex Morales, Daryna Krasnolutska, Jorge Valero and Simone Iglesias.
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