Biden declared at his first press conference on Thursday that he will run for re-election in 2024.
“My answer is yes, I plan to run for re-election. That’s my expectation,” he said.
Biden, 78, is the oldest person to take office as president in U.S. history.
He said he joined the race to send Trump out of the White House.
He succeeded beyond expectation, leaving Trump to make unfounded allegations that he was rigged out.
There has been speculation that Biden would serve only one four-year term.
But he shut down the speculations by declaring that he will run again.
He will be 82 at the time and will likely face his predecessor, Donald Trump.
Trump is believed to be warming up for another shot at the presidency.
For now, he has no rival in the Republican party, having hijacked the party.
The press conference focussed on other issues such as immigration via Mexico border, China, North Korea, Afghanistan.
He spoke about the pandemic and set another goal: to administer 200m doses of vaccines by his first 100 days.
Biden met the 100 million mark that he initially set in 58 days.
Appearing before reporters for more than an hour, Biden seemed well-prepared.
He read from written papers occasionally and calmly took questions, a sharp contrast to the often raucous, combative news conferences held by Trump.
He warned North Korea of consequences for launching two ballistic missiles on Thursday and said he was consulting with U.S. allies on the way forward.
And Biden sought to bring down the tone of rhetoric with China after his top aides had bitter exchanges with Chinese counterparts in Alaska earlier this month.
Struggling to contain a surge in border crossings, Biden told reporters that no previous administration had refused care and shelter to children coming over from Mexico – except that of Trump.
“I’m not going to do it,” Biden said, noting he had selected Harris to lead diplomatic efforts with Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador aimed at stemming the migration flow.
Biden backed away from a May 1 deadline to withdraw U.S. troops in Afghanistan after Trump tried but failed to pull them out before leaving office.
“It’s going to be hard to meet the May 1 deadline,” said Biden. But he added, “We are not staying a long time” in Afghanistan, site of America’s longest war. He said he did not think the troops would still be there next year.
NORTH KOREA
“If they choose to escalate, we will respond accordingly,” he said.
He said he was prepared for “some form of diplomacy” with North Korea “but it has to be conditioned upon the end result of denuclearization.”
Pyongyang wants the United States and other nations to ease economic sanctions imposed over its nuclear weapons program.
U.S. officials have said they have tried to engage with North Korea diplomatically but received no response.
CHINA
After difficult Alaska talks, Biden said he was not looking for a confrontation with China but would insist that Chinese President Xi Jinping adhere to international norms on trade.
“What I’ve told him in person on several occasions is that we’re not looking for confrontation, although we know there will be steep, steep competition…but we’ll insist that China play by the international rules, fair competition, fair practices, fair trade,” he said.
Biden called for Republicans in the U.S. Congress to help him move forward with his agenda as he takes on issues like gun control, climate change and immigration reform.
He said he believes the Democratic-controlled U.S. Senate should make it harder for Republicans to use a parliamentary blocking maneuver called the filibuster that requires 60 votes to advance most legislation in the 100-seat chamber, saying it is being abused.
IMMIGRATION
Biden was repeatedly pressed to defend his migration policy along the U.S. border with Mexico.
Biden said the increase in migration was cyclical.
“It happens every single solitary year. There is a significant increase in the number of people coming to the border in the winter months,” he said. “It happens every year.”
He said many migrants were fleeing problems in their home countries and blamed Trump, for dismantling parts of the U.S. immigration system.
