Biden reflects on American leadership, progress made at G-20 summit

(ROME) — President Joe Biden reflected on progress he made with other world leaders at this weekend’s G-20 summit, including ways to combat climate change, as the event wrapped up in Rome on Sunday.

Kicking off his first solo press conference in four months, Biden characterized his meetings over the last five days as “productive” and said America has reclaimed its role on the world stage working with its allies.

Biden touted goals that were accomplished during the summit, including endorsing the global minimum tax and coordination addressing the supply chain crunch.

During the summit, Biden highlighted American leadership on the world stage, a campaign pledge he was looking to deliver on.

“I’m looking forward to continuing to make progress on critical global issues as we head off to Glasgow because of what we’ve seen again here in Rome, what I think is the power of America showing up and working with our allies and partners to make progress on issues that matter to all of us,” Biden said

The president in particular lauded his in-person meetings with the world leaders.

“There’s really no substitute for face-to-face discussions and negotiations among the leaders when it comes to building understanding and cooperation,” Biden said. “When you’re looking at someone straight in the eye when you’re trying to get done — they know me, I know them, we can get things done together.”

He also spoke about his meeting with the E3 countries — France, Germany and the U.K. — on the state of the Iran nuclear program and returning to the table for negotiations.

“We came together to reiterate our shared belief that diplomacy is the best way to prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon, and we discussed how best to encourage Iran to resume serious good faith negotiations,” Biden said of the meeting.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

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