WASHINGTON — President Biden is considering extensive international travel during his final four months in office – with possible stops in Europe, Africa and South America.
Biden, 81, is widely expected to attend a pair of international summits in South America shortly after the Nov. 5 election — but NBC News reported Thursday that he’s also considering October trips to Germany and at least one stop in sub-Saharan Africa.
“The team is pulling together options,” an official told the outlet.
Biden’s potential lame-duck tour during the final stretch of the election campaign would serve to divert some press attention from the race between Republican nominee Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, with whom Biden has cohosted some events.
The outgoing incumbent has pledged to visit Africa while in office and the trip to Germany could serve to underscore his desired legacy as a leader of the NATO alliance in resisting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The South America tour would include stops at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation conference in Lima, Peru, Nov. 10-16.
The annual G-20 summit of leaders of the world’s top economies is being held Nov. 18-19 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Biden could meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping at one or both of those summits.
A Xi meeting would bookend a relationship that was controversial due to two Biden family business relationships with Chinese state-linked firms — as well as Xi’s refusal to cooperate on investigations on the origins of COVID-19, which killed more than 1 million Americans after possibly leaking from a lab; and his failure to stop exports of fentanyl, which killed more than 223,000 US residents in the first three years of Biden’s administration, according to preliminary federal data.
White House spokespeople did not confirm or deny plans for a grand tour before Biden heads to Delaware for retirement on Jan. 20.
“As he has since his first day in office, President Biden will continue to strengthen our alliances and partnerships with countries around the world, meeting with foreign leaders and advancing our efforts to make us all safer and more secure,” National Security Council spokesman Sean Savett told The Post.
“His foreign policy agenda is very full, focusing on securing a ceasefire and hostage release deal to end the war in Gaza and de-escalate tensions in the Middle East, continuing to support Ukraine in its defense against Russian aggression, addressing the challenges posed by the People’s Republic of China, and bolstering our relationships across the international sphere to create real opportunities for the American people, advance American strength and security, and tackle global threats of the future.”
