My fellow Americans, five weeks ago I was sworn in  as your Secretary of State. My job is to represent  

the United States to the world, to fight for  the interests and values of the American people.  

When President Biden asked me to serve, he made  sure that I understood that my job is to deliver  

for you – to make your lives more secure,  create opportunity for you and your families,  

and tackle the global crises that are  increasingly shaping your futures.

I take this responsibility very seriously. And an  

important part of the job is speaking  to you about what we're doing and why.

Later today, President Biden will share  what's called the “interim strategic guidance”  

on our national security and foreign policy.  

It gives initial direction to our national  security agencies so that they can get to  

work right away while we keep developing  a more in-depth national security strategy  

over the next several months. The interim guidance  lays out the global landscape as the Biden  

administration sees it, explains the priorities of  our foreign policy – and specifically how we will  

renew America's strength to meet the challenges  and seize the opportunities of our time.

So for this – my first major speech as  Secretary – I'm going to walk through – walk  

you through how American diplomacy will  carry out the President's strategy.  

If we do our jobs right, you'll be able to  check our work – to see the links between  

what we're doing around the world and  the goals and values I'll lay out today.

I know that foreign policy can sometimes  feel disconnected from our daily lives.  

It's either all about major threats – like  pandemics, terrorism – or it fades from view.

That's in part because it's  often about people and events  

on the other side of the world, and  it's about things you don't see – like  

crises stopped before they start, or  negotiations that happen out of sight.

But it's also because those of us who conduct  foreign policy haven't always done a good job  

connecting it to the needs and  aspirations of the American people.  

As a result, for some time now Americans  have been asking tough but fair questions  

about what we're doing, how we're leading –  indeed, whether we should be leading at all.

With this in mind, we've set the foreign  policy priorities for the Biden administration  

by asking a few simple questions:

What will our foreign policy mean for  American workers and their families?

What do we need to do around the world  to make us stronger here at home?

And what do we need to do at home  to make us stronger in the world?

The answers to these questions aren't the  same as they were in 2017 or 2009. Yes,  

many of us serving in the Biden administration  also proudly served President Obama – including  

President Biden. And we did a great deal of good  work to restore America's leadership in the world;  

to achieve hard-won diplomatic breakthroughs,  like the deal that stopped Iran from producing  

a nuclear weapon; and to bring the  world together to tackle climate change.  

Our foreign policy fit the moment,  as any good strategy should.

But this is a different time, so our  strategy and approach are different.  

We're not simply picking up where we left  off, as if the past four years didn't happen.  

We're looking at the world with fresh eyes.

Having said that, while the times have  changed, some principles are enduring.

One is that American leadership  and engagement matter.  

We're hearing this now from our  friends. They're glad we're back.  

Whether we like it or not, the world does not  organize itself. When the U.S. pulls back,  

one of two things is likely to happen: either  another country tries to take our place,  

but not in a way that advances our interests and  values; or, maybe just as bad, no one steps up,  

and then we get chaos and all the dangers it  creates. Either way, that's not good for America.

Another enduring principle is that  we need countries to cooperate,  

now more than ever. Not a single global  challenge that affects your lives can be  

met by any one nation acting alone – not  even one as powerful as the United States.  

And there is no wall high enough or strong enough  to hold back the changes transforming our world.

That's where the institution  I'm privileged to lead comes in.  

It's the role of the State Department –  and America's diplomats and development  

workers – to engage around the  world and build that cooperation.

President Biden has pledged to lead with diplomacy  

because it's the best way to  deal with today's challenges.  

At the same time, we'll make sure that we continue  to have the world's most powerful armed forces.  

Our ability to be effective diplomats depends in  no small measure on the strength of our military.

And in everything we do, we'll look not only  to make progress on short-term problems,  

but also to address their root  causes and lay the groundwork  

for our long-term strength. As the President says,  to not only build back, but build back better.

So here's our plan.

First, we will stop COVID-19 and  strengthen global health security.

The pandemic has defined lives – our lives  – for more than a year. To beat it back,  

we need governments, scientists, businesses, and  communities around the world working together.  

None of us will be fully safe until the majority  of the world is immune because as long as the  

virus is replicating, it could mutate into new  strains that find their way back to America.  

So we need to work closely with partners to keep  the global vaccination effort moving forward.

At the same time, we need to make sure we learn  the right lessons and make the right investments  

in global health security,  including tools to predict,  

prevent, and stop pandemics, and  a firm global commitment to share  

accurate and timely information, so that  a crisis like this never happens again.

Second, we will turn around the economic crisis  and build a more stable, inclusive global economy.

The pandemic has caused unemployment  to surge around the world.  

Nearly every country on earth is now in  a recession. The pandemic also laid bare  

inequalities that have defined life for millions  of Americans for a long time. So we've got a  

double challenge: to protect Americans from a  lengthy downturn, and to make sure the global  

economy delivers security and opportunity for  as many Americans as possible in the long term.

To do that, we need to pass the right policies  at home, like the relief package the President  

is pushing hard for right now, while working to  manage the global economy so it truly benefits  

the American people. And by that, I don't just  mean a bigger GDP or a rising stock market;  

for many American households, those  measures don't mean much. I mean good jobs,  

good incomes, and lower household costs  for American workers and their families.

We're building on hard lessons learned. Some of  us previously argued for free trade agreements  

because we believed Americans would broadly  share in the economic gains that those – and  

that those deals would shape the global economy  in ways that we wanted. We had good reasons  

to think those things. But we didn't do enough  to understand who would be negatively affected  

and what would be needed to adequately offset  their pain, or to enforce agreements that were  

already on the books and help more workers  and small businesses fully benefit from them.

Our approach now will be different. We will  fight for every American job and for the rights,  

protections, and interests of all American  workers. We will use every tool to stop  

countries from stealing our intellectual property  or manipulating their currencies to get an unfair  

advantage. We will fight corruption, which stacks  the deck against us. And our trade policies will  

need to answer very clearly how they will grow the  American middle class, create new and better jobs,  

and benefit all Americans, not only those  for whom the economy is already working.

Third, we will renew democracy,  because it's under threat.

A new report from the independent watchdog group  Freedom House is sobering. Authoritarianism and  

nationalism are on the rise around the world.  Governments are becoming less transparent and  

have lost the trust of the people. Elections  are increasingly flashpoints for violence.  

Corruption is growing. And the pandemic  has accelerated many of these trends.

But the erosion of democracy is not only happening  in other places. It's also happening here in the  

United States. Disinformation is rampant here.  Structural racism and inequality make life worse  

for millions. Our elected leaders were targeted in  the violent siege of the Capitol just two months  

ago. And more broadly, Americans are increasingly  polarized – and the institutions that exist to  

help us manage our differences, so our democracy  can continue to function, are under strain.

Shoring up our democracy is a foreign policy  imperative. Otherwise, we play right into  

the hands of adversaries and competitors like  Russia and China, who seize every opportunity  

to sow doubts about the strength of our democracy.  We shouldn't be making their jobs easier.

I take heart from the fact that we're  dealing with our struggles out in the open.  

And that sets us apart from many other countries.  We don't ignore our failures and shortcomings or  

try sweep them under the rug and pretend  they don't exist. We confront them for  

the world to see. It's painful. Sometimes  it's ugly. But it's how we make progress.

Still, there's no question that our democracy is  fragile. People around the world have seen that.  

Many recognize in our challenges the challenges  that they're facing. And now they're watching us  

because they want to see whether  our democracy is resilient,  

whether we can rise to the challenge here at home.  That will be the foundation for our legitimacy  

in defending democracy around  the world for years to come.

Why does that matter? Because strong democracies  are more stable, more open, better partners to us,  

more committed to human rights, less prone  to conflict, and more dependable markets  

for our goods and services. When democracies are  weak, governments can't deliver for their people  

or a country becomes so polarized that it's  hard for anything to get done, they become  

more vulnerable to extremist movements from the  inside and to interference from the outside. And  

they become less reliable partners to the United  States. None of that is in our national interest.

The more we and other democracies can  show the world that we can deliver,  

not only for our people, but also for each other,  

the more we can refute the lie that authoritarian  countries love to tell, that theirs is the better  

way to meet people's fundamental needs  and hopes. It's on us to prove them wrong.

So the question isn't if we will support  democracy around the world, but how.

We will use the power of our example. We will  encourage others to make key reforms, overturn bad  

laws, fight corruption, and stop unjust practices.  We will incentivize democratic behavior.

But we will not promote democracy through costly  military interventions or by attempting to  

overthrow authoritarian regimes by force.  We have tried these tactics in the past.  

However well intentioned, they haven't  worked. They've given democracy promotion  

a bad name, and they've lost the confidence of the  American people. We will do things differently.

Fourth, we will work to create a humane  and effective immigration system.

Strong borders are fundamental to our national  security, and laws are the bedrock of our  

democracy. But we also need a diplomatic, and  just plain decent, solution to the fact that  

year after year, people from other countries  risk everything to try to make it here.  

We need to address the root  causes that drive so many people  

to flee their homes. And so we'll  work closely with other countries,  

especially our neighbors in Central America,  to help them deliver better physical security  

and economic opportunity so people don't feel  like migrating is the only way out and up.

As we do this work, we will not  lose sight of our core principles.  

Cruelty, especially to children, is  unacceptable. And turning our backs  

on some of the most vulnerable people  on earth is not who we should ever be.

One of the most important  pieces of our national identity  

is that we are a country of immigrants.  We're made stronger by the fact that  

hardworking people come here to go to school,  start businesses, enrich our communities. We've  

gotten away from that part of ourselves in the  past few years. We've got to get back to it.

Fifth, we will revitalize our  ties with our allies and partners.  

Our alliances are what the military calls force  multipliers. They're our unique asset. We get so  

much more done with them than we could without  them. So we're making a big push right now  

to reconnect with our friends and allies, and to  reinvent partnerships that were built years ago  

so they're suited to today's  and tomorrow's challenges.  

That includes countries in Europe and Asia  that have been our closest friends for decades,  

as well as old and new partners in Africa,  the Middle East, and Latin America.

Over the decades, these commitments have  created new markets for our products,  

new allies to deter aggression, and new partners  to help meet global challenges. We had a name for  

it: “enlightened self-interest.” We'll be clear  that real partnership means carrying burdens  

together, everyone doing their part – not  just us. And whenever we can, we will choose  

engagement. Wherever the rules for international  security and the global economy are being written,  

America will be there, and the interests of  the American people will be front and center.

We're always better off at the table,  

not outside the room. You should expect  nothing less from your government.

Sixth, we will tackle the climate crisis and  drive a green energy revolution. Maybe you live in  

California, where wildfires get worse every year.  Or the Midwest, where farmland keeps flooding.  

Or the Southeast, where communities have been  destroyed by stronger and more frequent storms.  

The climate crisis is endangering all of us,  and costing us more by the month. We can't fix  

it alone. The United States produces 15 percent  of the world's carbon pollution. That's a lot,  

and we badly need to get that number down.  But even if we brought it down to zero,