World leaders send congratulations to President Biden on Inauguration Day
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
World leaders sent honeymoon hugs — and wish lists — to the newly inaugurated President Biden in messages of congratulations that ranged from ecstatic to wary.
“Once again, after four long years, Europe has a friend in the White House,” Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Union’s executive branch, said in a speech that delivered a thinly veiled denunciation of former President Donald Trump.
French President Emmanuel Macron could barely contain his glee.
“Best wishes on this most significant day for the American people!” he tweeted. “We are together. We will be stronger to face the challenges of our time. Stronger to build our future. Stronger to protect our planet.”
He also welcomed Biden back to the Paris climate accord, which Trump dumped five months into his first year in office.
But there were messages with more complicated congratulations from some U.S. allies.
“You and I have had a warm personal friendship going back many decades,” Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu, a strong Trump supporter, said in a video. “I look forward to working with you to further strengthen the U.S.-Israel alliance, to continue expanding peace between Israel and the Arab world and to confront common challenges, chief among them the threat posed by Iran.”
The mention of Iran was a heavy hint that Israel would be displeased if a nuclear deal negotiated under Obama’s presidency, and then scrapped by Trump, would be resurrected in a Biden administration.
The relief of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was almost palpable in his congratulatory tweet.
“Our two countries have tackled some of history’s greatest challenges together — and I’m looking forward to continuing this partnership with you, Kamala Harris, and your administration,” wrote Trudeau, who had a contentious relationship with Trump.
Our ally to the south, however — not so much.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a Trump fan, one of the last to offer his congratulations to Biden after the Nov. 3 election, made it clear what his fondest wish would be.
“I thank President Trump, who ends his term, for the way he treated us, and I have no doubt, I am at peace, optimistic because there is going to be a good relationship with President Biden,” he said.
