Joe Biden insists US leads China as he explains decision to ‘pass the torch’
- US President Joe Biden throws his support behind Kamala Harris in his first public address since ending his 2024 re-election bid
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Joe Biden insists US leads China, says he will ‘pass the torch’ to Kamala Harris
In his first major address since announcing he was ending his quest for a second term, US President Joe Biden said on Wednesday his country leads China and vowed to bolster support for American allies in the Pacific.
“When I came to office, the conventional wisdom was that China would inevitably surpass the United States,” said Biden, speaking from the Oval Office. “That’s not the case any more.”
Manufacturing has “come back to America” while “we’re leading the world again in chips and science and innovation” amid falling inflation and rising wages, the president said.
Biden, who will leave office in January after a four-year term, pledged to make the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (Nato) “more powerful and more united” than at any time in American history and “keep doing the same for our allies in the Pacific”.
The US has treaty alliances with Japan and the Philippines, but Biden has previously described China, the world’s second largest economy, as the “most serious competitor” to the United States.
