Biden Transition Team Officially Launches... Challenging Activities Expected Due to Trump and COVID Variables

Trump's Stubbornness in Foreign Policy Intensifies
US COVID-19 Cases Surpass 10 Million...Concerns Over Activity Restrictions

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] President-elect Joe Biden of the United States has officially begun the transition process ahead of the inauguration of the new administration on January 20 next year by launching an agency review team. However, with President Donald Trump signaling refusal to concede the election and preparing for legal battles, making it difficult to seek active cooperation from the current administration, and with the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. surpassing 10 million, the transition process is expected to face significant challenges amid the worsening situation.

According to AP News and others on the 8th (local time), Biden is expected to form a transition team of about 150 members and launch an agency review team within this week. The agency review team is responsible for collecting and reviewing information related to each department’s budget, personnel, pending regulations, and other ongoing tasks from employees currently working in federal departments. Biden plans to carry out the transition process over approximately 10 weeks until his inauguration in January.

However, President Trump’s continued refusal to accept the election results and his announcement of legal battles are seen as the biggest obstacles to the transition team’s activities. It will inevitably become difficult to expect help from the current administration.

Trump’s obstinacy has already begun regarding some foreign policies. According to Axios, the Trump administration is pushing forward plans to impose consecutive sanctions on Iran and may take measures to prevent the incoming administration from restoring the Iran nuclear deal, which was abandoned by the Trump administration. Axios cited an Israeli source saying, "The Trump administration’s goal is to impose as many sanctions on Iran as possible before the new government takes office on January 20 next year," adding, "This is intended to make it difficult for the next administration to easily revive the nuclear deal through successive sanctions."

According to CNN, President Trump is also openly obstructing the transition team’s activities by dismissing several heads of public institutions one after another. On the 6th, Trump abruptly dismissed Bonnie Glick, Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and appointed John Barsa as acting deputy administrator. He also suddenly demoted Neil Chatterjee, Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, to a commissioner and appointed fellow commissioner James Danly as chairman. Due to these sudden leadership changes, it is expected that these departments will find it difficult to provide information to Biden’s transition team.

The raging COVID-19 pandemic is also hampering progress. According to the global statistics site Worldometer, the daily number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. on this day was 126,921, with over 100,000 new cases reported daily since the 4th. The cumulative number of confirmed cases has surpassed 10.28 million, and the total deaths have reached 243,756. Following the election, rallies both supporting and opposing the candidates have occurred nationwide, raising concerns that more cases will emerge after the election season concludes. With COVID-19 prevention measures requiring minimal contact, transition activities are expected to be significantly reduced compared to previous years.

Biden’s transition team also views the COVID-19 crisis as the most urgent issue and plans to announce a COVID-19 response task force (TF) on the 9th. The COVID-19 TF, consisting of about 12 members, is expected to be co-led by former Public Health Service Director Vivek Murthy and former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner David Kessler. The formation of this task force is interpreted as a reflection of the difficulties faced during the 2000 presidential election transition, when George W. Bush was confirmed as president-elect only after about a month due to recounts and lawsuits in Florida, which delayed the transition process.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.