Biden to face global challenges from China, Russia as he departs for first foreign trip

President Biden embarked on his first trip overseas since taking office Wednesday, a journey in which he will meet with G-7 and NATO allies to discuss ways to address the coronavirus pandemic and an increasingly aggressive China and Russia.

Biden departed Joint Base Andrews in Maryland Wednesday morning is set to arrive in the United Kingdom Wednesday night local time. His first order of business will be a bilateral meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Thursday, before joining G-7 leaders for the group's summit over the weekend.

Biden is also expected to meet with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle, before traveling to Belgium for the NATO Summit, and later to Geneva for a face-to-face meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

"This trip is about realizing America's renewed commitment to our allies and partners," Biden wrote in an op-ed previewing his trip in The Washington Post over the weekend. "Whether it is ending the COVID-19 pandemic everywhere, meeting the demands of an accelerating climate crisis, or confronting the harmful activities of the governments of China and Russia, the United States must lead the world from a position of strength."

The trip is aimed at "making clear to Putin and to China that Europe and the United States are tight," he told reporters before Air Force One departed Wednesday.

On China, the president is set to direct his focus on competitiveness in the marketplace, and the origins of the coronavirus pandemic. The president, last month, said U.S. intelligence officials had coalesced around two "likely scenarios" for the origin of the pandemic — zoonotic transmission or a leak from a laboratory in Wuhan. Biden gave the intelligence community 90 days for additional review to get to the bottom of how the pandemic began.