Just days before the end of his term, United States President Joe Biden announces a series of new measures that pose a challenge to Chinese chip production and shipbuilding, as well as restrictions on Russian oil, while after months of unsuccessful negotiations, it was announced last night that an agreement has been reached on a ceasefire in Gaza.
The Biden administration is rushing to wrap up its remaining work before Donald Trump is sworn in on January 20, concluding investigations and introducing new policies. Analysts and officials say many of these moves will benefit the incoming Trump administration, giving it new negotiating tools against China, Russia and other countries.
In less than a week, the Biden administration has imposed sanctions on Russian oil producers and ships, restricted exports of semiconductor chips, declared Chinese shipbuilding practices unfair, ceded federal land for artificial intelligence centers, and finalized plans to effectively ban Chinese vehicles.
With his latest moves, Biden is “trying to shape how history remembers him,” Robert Rowland, a professor at the University of Kansas who studies presidential rhetoric, told Reuters. But doing so “gives Trump a lot of negotiating room,” he added, noting that Biden may not be doing himself a favor.
If Biden wanted to improve his political legacy, “he should have done these things a year ago. It's too late now,” Rowland added.
Biden's team is preparing final measures that Trump can use to fulfill campaign promises that helped Republicans defeat Democrats in all key states in the US elections, political strategists believe.
For example, the Biden administration's investigation into Chinese shipbuilding recently concluded that Beijing used financial support, forced technology transfers and intellectual property theft to unfairly harm American shipbuilders, the British agency's sources said.
The investigation conducted under Section 301 of the US Trade Act allows Biden to take credit for holding Beijing accountable, while also creating a legal basis for Trump to fulfill his promise to increase tariffs on Chinese goods.
“In many ways, this is a test case for what we need to do in terms of domestic industrial policy to correct decades of liberal globalization,” said one Democratic Party source who is following the investigation. If they are smart, Republicans will use the results of this investigation to advance their own agenda, the same source added.
In some cases, Biden administration officials say they are deliberately favoring Trump, including tough new sanctions on Russian oil. But the long-term consequences could be more complex, Reuters estimates.
The White House and Trump's transition team declined to comment on how Biden's latest moves could help Trump.
On Monday, Jake Sullivan, Biden's national security adviser, said that increased sanctions could give Trump leverage to get a better deal for Ukraine in peace talks with Russia.
“The new team is preparing the ground for negotiations, and in negotiations, leverage is needed, and part of that leverage has to come from the kind of economic pressure that will make Putin understand that he will continue to pay a significant economic price,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan told reporters that Trump's aides were informed in advance about the strategy, but that there was no coordination.
The timing of the measures means the Trump administration will have to deal with a possible increase in fuel prices at the pump. In the days following the announcement of the sanctions, oil prices rose to their highest level in four months.
Sullivan told reporters that Biden's team had decided that oil prices - which surged to more than $100 a barrel after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, before falling to around $80 - were low enough to allow for tougher measures.
Senior Biden administration officials say they have briefed Trump's team on a variety of issues, including sanctions on Russia, control of artificial intelligence technology, countering Chinese cyber espionage and the Gaza hostage negotiations. Sullivan said Biden has tasked him with working closely with Trump's team.
It's part of a broader approach by the Biden administration that prioritizes a smooth transition of power, despite Trump's continued harsh criticism of Biden even after his election victory in November. Trump appointees and advisers continue to threaten to dismantle the federal bureaucracy; Republicans say they could withhold federal aid to wildfire-ravaged California, a traditional Democratic stronghold.
However, there is hope within the White House that “new options will be created so that the new team and Congress can start working immediately,” said a Biden administration official.
Bonus video:
