Biden to call for global unity on Ukraine in first State of the Union speech

President Joe Biden will call on America and the world to remain united in confronting Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, during his first State of the Union speech that will be heavily devoted to foreign policy as well as the high inflation undercutting the economic recovery.

Biden’s address to a joint session of Congress, scheduled for Tuesday at 9pm in Washington, comes at a new inflection point in his crisis-ridden presidency. War is breaking out in eastern Europe just as the US is finally overcoming the latest surge in coronavirus infections and as Americans are increasingly disenchanted with the president’s handling of the economy.

Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said on Monday that Biden would stress the importance of a united front against Vladimir Putin both among US allies and domestically given the polarised political environment.

“I would say this speech is . . . about the unity of the vast majority of the global community in standing up against President Putin. It’s . . . about American leadership in this moment, and it’s . . . about even unity here in standing up against the aggression of President Putin,” Psaki said.

White House officials said Biden would be “outlin[ing] the efforts that we are taking to rally the world to stand up for democracy”. It comes as the US, the EU and other allies moved to impose sweeping economic sanctions on Moscow in the wake of its assault on Ukraine, in addition to providing more military and humanitarian aid.

Adrienne Elrod, a Democratic strategist, said Biden’s message would also have to try to assuage people’s concerns that the war could spiral out of control and hit them directly. On Monday afternoon, the president answered “no” when asked by a reporter if Americans should be worried about nuclear war with Russia.

“He’ll have to reassure Americans that he’s doing everything to protect us in what appears to be a potential realignment of the world order as we know it,” she said. “I think he’s done a good job with that so far, but I do think a lot of Americans are going to be tuning in . . . because they want to see his posture on Russia and they want those reassurances that we’re going to be safe”.

Even though the war in Ukraine is at the top of the agenda, and foreign affairs may be more prominent than in any other State of the Union speech since George W Bush’s 2002 “Axis of Evil” remarks in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, White House officials said Biden would still focus a “significant portion” of the speech on his economic agenda.

A Washington Post-ABC News poll published at the weekend showed just 37 per cent of Americans approve of Biden’s handling of the economy, compared to 58 per cent who disapprove. The poll found three in four Americans rated the economy negatively, the highest proportion since 2013.

White House officials said the president would specifically address the rising consumer costs that “eat away at the economic progress that the country is making and squeeze families’ budgets” and lay out his plans to combat inflation in the months to come.

The latest official figures showed the US consumer price index rose 7.5 per cent in January, compared with the previous year, its fastest annual pace in 40 years. Among the proposals that Biden is expected to announce is a regulatory crackdown on global shipping alliances that administration officials accuse of inflating costs for consumers.

With crude oil sitting above $100 a barrel, and huge political pressure to reduce fuel costs at the pump, the president is certain to address energy inflation in the speech, analysts said.

“I expect him to emphasise near-term supply and long-term demand reduction,” said Paul Bledsoe, strategic adviser at the Progressive Policy Institute and a former climate adviser in the Bill Clinton White House.

Easing supply is likely to take the form of Biden trumpeting a release of strategic oil reserves, co-ordinated with other consumer countries, in order to soothe near-term price rises fuelled by the conflict in Ukraine.

An agreement on such a release may come as soon as Tuesday, when Jennifer Granholm, US energy secretary, chairs a meeting of International Energy Agency member countries.

Biden is also expected to tout the $1.2tn bipartisan infrastructure plan that he signed into law at the end of last year, while turning away from his ambitious Build Back Better social spending agenda that ran aground last year amid sustained opposition from a handful of members of his own party, especially Joe Manchin, the Democratic senator from West Virginia.

Senior administration officials insisted, however, that the president would continue to promote many of the proposals included in the initial Build Back Better bill, such as measures to lower prescription drug costs and the extension of a tax credit for children — urging Congress to send a scaled-back piece of legislation to his desk before the end of the year.

“It is not about the name of the bill, it is about the ideas,” said one White House official. “It is about lowering costs for families, and I think you can expect to hear the president talk about those ideas.”