Day one actions of his presidency included restoring U.S. participation in the Paris Agreement, revoking the permit for the Keystone XL pipeline and halting funding for the Mexico–United States border wall.

[24][25][26][27][28] The Trump campaign launched at least 63 lawsuits against the results,[29] especially in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, raising unevidenced claims of widespread voter fraud that were subsequently dismissed by courts.

[34] Two days after becoming the projected winner of the 2020 election, Biden announced the formation of a task force to advise him on the COVID-19 pandemic during the transition, co-chaired by former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, former FDA commissioner David A. Kessler, and Yale University's Marcella Nunez-Smith.

[38][39] On January 6, a mob of thousands of Trump supporters violently stormed the Capitol in the hope of overturning Biden's election, forcing Congress to evacuate during the counting of the Electoral College votes.

[43][44] Biden's inaugural speech laid out his vision to unite the nation, prefaced by the various impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic strife, climate change, political polarization, and racial injustice.

[67][68] While administering the oath of office to hundreds of White House officials through video conferencing, Biden called for more civility in politics, saying: "If you ever work with me and I hear you treat another colleague with disrespect, talk down to someone, I promise you I will fire you on the spot.

[70] Biden strongly campaigned for the presidency on the public option, a policy that, if enacted into law, would have offered Americans a choice between maintaining their private healthcare insurance or buying into Medicare.

[5][111] Biden signed an order on January 21 that directed FEMA to offer full reimbursements to states for the cost of using their own National Guard personnel and emergency supplies such as Personal Protective Equipment in schools.

[140][139][141][104] On 28 April, during Biden's speech to Congress he unveiled the American Families Plan, a roughly $1.8 trillion proposal to significantly increase federal spending in areas related to childcare, paid leave, pre-kindergarten, community college, and healthcare.

[174] The Wall Street Journal reported that instead of negotiating access to Chinese markets for large American financial-service firms and pharmaceutical companies, the Biden administration may focus on trade policies that boost exports or domestic jobs.

[206] Most economists surveyed by the WSJ in July 2024 found that inflation would be worse under a second Trump administration compared to a second Biden term, due in part to tariffs, a crack down on illegal immigration, and larger deficits.

"[209] During his first week in office, Biden established the position of White House National Climate Advisor, appointing environmental health and air quality expert Gina McCarthy to the role.

[233] On June 1, 2021, Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland suspended all oil and gas drilling leases in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, pending further review of their environmental impacts.

[260] Biden also called upon Congress to pass an Unlocking Possibilities Program to allow HUD to issue grants to states and localities to help reform permitting for affordable housing, as well as further mortgage assistance for first-time homebuyers.

[277] A federal judge in Texas subsequently issued a temporary restraining order barring the Biden administration from enforcing its moratorium, citing the lack of "any concrete, reasonable justification for a 100-day pause on deportations.

[279] According to an Associated Press report, López Obrador noted that Biden pledged $4 billion to "help development in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala — nations whose hardships have spawned tides of migration through Mexico toward the United States.

[298] On October 5, 2023, Biden's administration said it will add sections to a border wall to stave off record migrant crossings from Mexico, carrying forward a signature policy of former president Donald Trump.

[349] After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey on June 24, 2022, in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Biden addressed the nation in the Cross Hall of the White House.

"[395] He described China as the "most serious competitor" that poses challenges on the "prosperity, security, and democratic values" of the U.S.[396] Biden nominated Antony Blinken to serve as Secretary of State who took office on January 26, 2021.

"[402] The Atlantic published an article saying that the Biden team "flushed Beijing's true intentions out into the open for the world to see", quoting a senior administration official's comment that it is "increasingly difficult to argue that we don't know what China wants.

[434] The Biden administration sanctioned a key Cuban official and a government special forces unit known as the Boinas Negras for human rights abuses in the wake of historic protests on the island.

"[478] In March 2021, Biden held a virtual meeting with leaders of Japan, India and Australia, an alliance of countries known as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or the Quad, that work together to address China's expansionism in the Indo-Pacific region.

At the time of its launch, the IPEF had 12 partners including Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

[506][507] In December 2021, Putin asked President Joe Biden for legal guarantees that NATO wouldn't expand eastward or put "weapons systems that threaten us in close vicinity to Russian territory.

[521][522] On September 27, 2022, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre encouraged Russian men fleeing their home country to avoid being drafted to apply for asylum in the United States.

Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan informed Putin's foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov that the United States would not discuss a ceasefire without Ukraine's participation.

[577] But, in June 2022, the White House confirmed that Biden was to visit Saudi Arabia and meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, during his Middle East trip in July.

[626][627][628] Ian Bremmer, an American political scientist, stated the Biden administration's position unconditionally supporting Israel had left him as isolated on the world stage as Russia's president Vladimir Putin.

[632] Usually the Arms Export Control Act would require the State Department, on behalf of the president, to provide U.S. Congress advance notification of government-to-government foreign military sales of defense equipment.

In December 2021, Biden appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon where they discussed "his Build Back Better Plan, the importance of his bipartisan friendship with the late Sen. Bob Dole, rejecting extremism and getting Americans vaccinated against COVID-19.