“America is back”

By Mike Jarvis, UK Correspondent

With those three words, new US President Joe Biden set the stage and the tone for the United States to step in and fill the leadership vacuum left - and created - by his predecessor Donald Trump.

And he repeated it as if to reassure not just the world, not just America - but also himself.

Those three words, delivered in Mr Biden atypical whispered authority - a softly-spoken yet authoritative tone - reverberated reassuringly around the democratic world.

It might have come just in time as the world seemed poised on the brink of an influence-grab to fill the gaping hole in global leadership caused by his predecessor’s isolationist tendencies.

The geopolitical risk was a world fragmented into blocs under the influence of mainly China and Russia, less so the European Union or the United Kingdom - facing its own internal fragmentation after its self-inflicted painful exit from the EU.

In a foreign policy reset for the US which carries wide global implications, President Biden’s declaration of “America is back” has set the tone and the stage for a return to the normal before the abnormal that came after.

From trade to climate change, immigration, less soft-peddling on Moscow and maintaining pressure on China, the about-turn is welcome.

In this region, the details are still awaited on Mr Biden’s approach to Latin American and Caribbean affairs, especially Cuba.

But his reversing of Trump’s harsh immigration stance with a more relaxed and humane approach is a welcome start.

But as encouraging as it might seem, this is just the beginning of a long road back... and not just for America.