Former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on Wednesday criticized the foreign policy actions President Joe Biden has taken since beginning his first week in office.
Haley appeared on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” and was asked by hosts Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer to give her thoughts on what the Biden administration has done so far with regard to Russia and China. (RELATED: Sen. Steve Daines Decries Biden’s ‘Saudi Arabia First Plan’: He ‘Cares More’ About Their Workers Than America’s)
“I can tell you Putin has to be pretty ecstatic right now. I mean, one of the things that bothered him the most was how energy independent we had become,” Haley said. “And the idea that President Biden has already cut off the Keystone pipeline, started banning fracking, that in itself is one thing. The fact that Biden is jumping back into the new START agreement, but not even jumping back in, doing it for five years is something that gave Russia a lot of advantage, but never included China…. It is a good first week for Russia right now.”
Haley alluded to Biden’s signing of an executive order that prevents the renewal of construction permits critical to the Keystone XL pipeline, which is being constructed to carry oil from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and create thousands of jobs. She also mentioned the START Treaty that the U.S. and Russia have agreed to a five year extension on, which some claim benefits Russia, but does not include China.
Hemmer then asked Haley how she thought Biden might handle China and the Chinese Communist Party after the hardline approach former President Donald Trump took over the last four years.
“I think that President Biden needs to take advantage of the fact that Republicans and Democrats both agree that China is a problem. They are our number one national security threat,” Haley said. “And so what we need to do is have some serious conversations instead of just jumping back into the world health organization why don’t you have the Security Council hold a meeting on what China knew, when they knew it about Covid, and why they didn’t do something about it?”
Haley was referring to Biden’s move to take the U.S. back into the World Health Organization, after Trump withdrew the U.S. last year. She also mentioned the need for China to stop stealing intellectual property before asking why Biden wasn’t using any leverage before making any of the decisions he’s been making.
“Why didn’t you sit down and talk with those governors? I was a governor. Why didn’t you talk to those governors before you stopped the Keystone pipeline? Why didn’t you talk to those governors before you banned fracking? Why aren’t you using leverage if Iran is producing nuclear weapons? Why before jumping right back into the Iran deal why aren’t you using those sanctions as leverage?” Haley continued. “This is about strategy. This is about being smart. And what Biden is showing is he’s more interested in reversing everything President Trump did than being strategic in how we keep America strong going forward.”