The White House announced on Friday that President Joe Biden will take the first overseas trip of his tenure to the United Kingdom and Belgium in June.
This news comes as Biden finished up a two-day White House–hosted virtual climate summit with 40 world leaders and other dignitaries.
Biden will attend the G7 summit, which will take place June 11 to 13 in Cornwall, England. While taking part in the conference, Biden will also join bilateral meetings with the U.K. prime minister Boris Johnson and other G7 leaders.
The president will subsequently travel to Brussels for a NATO summit being held on June 14. At the summit, Biden will “affirm the United States’ commitment to NATO, Transatlantic security, and collective defense,” according to the White House.
Biden will also take part in a United States–European Union summit while in Brussels, where he will meet with the leaders of the member states and discuss issues such as climate change, the global economy, and trade cooperation.
In a statement, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, “This trip will highlight his commitment to restoring our alliances, revitalizing the Transatlantic relationship, and working in close cooperation with our allies and multilateral partners to address global challenges and better secure America’s interests.”
U.S. presidents often make a trip across the northern border to Canada their first foreign excursion. Biden upheld the tradition by holding his first bilateral meeting as president with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau back in February, but because of the pandemic, they chatted on a video-conference call.
