The United States and the European Union renew their relationship

US and European Union (EU) chief diplomats on Thursday discussed repairing relations between Washington and Brussels. As President Joe Biden has been saying both before and after the election, the United States wants to resume ties with the EU.

The Secretary of State appointed by the new president, Antony Blinken, and the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, stressed that a new chapter has been opened in relations between the United States and the European Union. Blinken and Borrell also discussed "strong cooperation" in China.

Blinken, who has experience in the administrations of Bill Clinton (1993-2001) and Barack Obama (2009-2017), was appointed head of US state diplomacy days after the new president, Democrat Joe Biden, was inaugurated on 20 January.

After the departure of Donald Trump, the former US president, who was not mentioned by name, they discussed "ways to repair, revitalise US-EU relations and enhance their ambitions". Blinken also thanked his European counterpart for the EU's leadership in recent years, according to the State Department.

The main message sent to the US side was to "renew the EU-US strategic partnership", the European Commission said in a statement. According to the same source, Borrell invited Blinken to attend a summit of EU foreign ministers "as soon as possible".

The EU emphasised an exchange on "strengthening multilateralism and the rules-based global system" and praised the US return to the Paris climate agreement and the World Health Organisation.

During the years of Donald Trump's presidency (2017-2021), relations between Washington and Brussels experienced one of the most tense periods in decades. The former president harshly criticised the European Union, including trade sanctions, and questioned the relationship between the two parties. 

Blinken argued in his Senate confirmation hearings that "humility and trust should be the two sides of the coin of US leadership".