Biden addressed his legislative agenda for the coming year, including economic goals, China relations and police reform.
United States President Joe Biden has delivered the annual State of the Union address, the second of his presidency, outlining his policy goals and talking up achievements as he mulls running for a second term in office.
But the speech on Tuesday was his first delivered to a divided Congress, which heckled the president during the sometimes feisty speech.
Facing a Democrat-led Senate and a House of Representatives now under Republican control, the 80-year-old president touted his economic track record and victories in infrastructure spending, clean energy and prescription drug pricing.
With State of the Union speeches attracting tens of millions of viewers each year, this year’s address is likely the biggest platform Biden has before potentially hitting the campaign trail ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Here are the five biggest takeaways from this year’s speech.
Warning China against threatening US sovereignty
An alleged Chinese spy balloon flying over the US had dominated headlines in the week before Biden’s speech, as relations between the two countries remain tense.
Biden on Tuesday warned China against threatening the US while reiterating the position that Washington is not seeking confrontation with Beijing.
“As we made clear last week, if China threatens our sovereignty, we will act to protect our country — and we did,” he said, referring to the shooting down of the balloon.
Biden has pressed on with his predecessor Donald Trump’s strategy of prioritising competition with China in US foreign policy.
“Let’s be clear: winning the competition should unite all of us,” Biden said.
