Eurasia Press & News
Few governments were as relieved as Jordan’s at the results of last month’s presidential election in the United States. King Abdullah II was one of the first world leaders to congratulate Joe Biden for his victory over Donald Trump, and Biden spoke with Abdullah by phone last week, his first call with an Arab leader since winning office.
Despite a long history of cooperation on economic and security issues, U.S. ties with Jordan were strained under Trump’s presidency, largely due to Trump’s lopsided approach to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Under Biden, the relationship is likely to “go back to what it used to be,” says Marwan Muasher, a former Jordanian foreign minister and deputy prime minister who is now vice president for studies at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. But he also notes that resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict may not be a top priority for Biden, given the other pressing issues he will confront. Muasher joined WPR’s Elliot Waldman on the Trend Lines podcast this week to discuss the outlook for U.S.-Jordan relations and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process under the new administration.
