Biden to set out his foreign policy in state dept speech – live updates

During a call to Russian president Vladimir Putin, the White House said Biden raised contentious issues such as the arrest of opposition figure Alexei Navalny, as well as Moscow’s cyber-espionage campaign, while seeking common ground by agreeing to extend a landmark nuclear arms deal with Russia.

“We remain clear-eyed about the challenges that Russia poses to the United States and the world,” secretary of state Antony Blinken has said in a statement.

He added the US would “work to hold Russia to account for adversarial actions as well as its human rights abuses, in close coordination with our allies and partners.”

How to handle supply chain and intelligence threats from China is among the top priorities of the administration. It has been reported that Biden is soon expected to sign an executive order to review US supply chains, with a focus on coronavirus relief suppliers from foreign competitors.

“We know that China is engaged in a range of conduct that hurts American workers. It blunts our technological edge, it threatens our alliances and influence in international organizations, and China is engaged in gross human rights violations that shock the conscience,” state department spokesman Ned Price Price said this week.