How Cities Can Help Biden Repair American Diplomacy

One day after the U.S. presidential election, as Americans waited to see if Joe Biden had succeeded in his bid to defeat an incumbent president, the United States formally left the Paris Agreement on climate change. It is hardly the only international agreement or partnership that the outgoing administration exited, weakened or ignored. Over four chaotic years, the current administration undermined ongoing international climate negotiations, ignored the U.S. commitment to the United Nations 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development, and cast doubt on long-standing alliances, such as NATO. It’s no wonder that the U.S. image — as an asset and a component of so-called soft power — is at a nadir.