PRESS RELEASE
ASPENIA 91
L’AMERICA NONOSTANTE TUTTO
Rome, 19 January 2021 – To tie in with the publication of Aspenia 91, a journal edited by Marta Dassù, Aspen Institute Italia, in partnership with RAINEWS 24, will be holding an Aspenia Talk on the Zoom platform tomorrow, 20 January, at 17:30. President Joe Biden’s inaugural address will be aired live in the course of the debate – see attached invitation.
The 91st edition of ASPENIA focuses on the United States, with articles by Charles Kupchan, Jeffrey Sachs, David Livingston, Michael Beckley, Gianni Riotta, Giuliano Ferrara, Mario Sechi, Andrew Spannaus, Andrey Kortunov, Stephen M. Walt and John Hulsman. Without forgetting Europe. The magazine opens with a conversation with European Commissioner for the Economy Paolo Gentiloni focusing on the EU’s geopolitical role and on imparting a fresh boost to transatlantic relations in an international system plunged by the pandemic into a devastating economic, social and health crisis.
President-elect Joe Biden is taking over a divided country that is still reeling in a climate poisoned by the assault on Capitol Hill on 6 January and by the parting shots of an outgoing president who continues to question the result of the election. The first item on Biden’s agenda will unquestionably be bringing the Covid emergency back under control and launching a package of tax stimulus measures to support the US economy’s potential comeback (which is partly under way already). On the foreign policy front, Biden will be putting his money on pragmatic and selective internationalization calibrated on US domestic interests. The Biden presidency, in line with those of Barack Obama and of Donald Trump, will call on Europe to shoulder direct responsibility for its security and to take on board the United States’ gradual disengagement from certain crucial theaters on the EU’s southern borders. Another strategic issue: Joe Biden, like Donald Trump before him, will consider relations with China to be the challenge of the century. 21st century Atlanticism will either hold out or crumble over the handling of ties with China.
Europe cannot labor under the illusion that Biden’s America, so seriously divided on the inside, is going to mark a simple return to the past. Europe needs to envision the future of relations between the two shores of the Atlantic in a world in which the United States – less dominant than it once was, distracted as it is by its own domestic concerns and involved in the competitition of the century with China – will have something to give but also a great deal to ask, including in commercial terms. There is going to be a very clear change by comparison with Trump’s tariff policy, but there are still going to be problems regarding taxaion for the digital giants and a potential carbon border tax. It is not going to be easy to thrash out an understanding. After the trial of strength with Trump, the relationship with Joe Biden is going to be a test of Europe’s maturity. And Europe would be well advised to pass that test, because four years from now the two Americas are going to clash once again.
Stefania Salustri
Head of Communications and Media Relations, Website Director
Tel: 335 7919949
e-mail: stefania.salustri@aspeninstitute.it