Thanks for your comments. I largely agree with them, except I think the issue is less that Biden (and Obama) needed to reassure allies upon taking office than that they didn't want to retrench and didn't seriously consider how to make retrenchment work and align with other U.S. goals.

Certainly not mutually exclusive. But this gets to another obstacle to retrenchment: strategic culture/worldview. The project to internalize the "global" in US strategic thinking has been enormously successful, especially when you consider the geographical advantages it enjoys as a strategic island.Certainly not mutually exclusive. But this gets to another obstacle to retrenchment: strategic culture/worldview. The project to internalize the "global" in US strategic thinking has been enormously successful, especially when you consider the geographical advantages it enjoys as a strategic island.