Mike Pompeo, the foreign minister loyal to Donald Trump, also refused to leave the stage in secret. He is the commander-in-chief of Trump's "America First" foreign policy. In recent days, he has made some fundamental foreign policy decisions that analysts believe will hurt Joe Biden.
Biden believes that Donald Trump's foreign policy has undermined America's leadership and influence in the world over the past four years and has alienated America from its allies. In recent months, Joe Biden has said that the main goal of his foreign policy is to establish America's "dignified leadership" in the world. He has given the responsibility of formulating and implementing his foreign policy to people who believe in international cooperation rather than the "go it alone" policy.
But in his last days in power, Mike Pompeo has made decisions about China, Iran and the Middle East that Joe Biden will suffer. Considering China's sensitivities, the long-standing policy of the United States to cut off official contact with Taiwan has been withdrawn, much to China's chagrin.
The United Nations and aid agencies are deeply concerned about the listing of Houthis as a terrorist organization in Yemen. The Security Council requested that in addition to the International Atomic Energy Agency's ongoing inspections in Yemen, that it monitor Iran's compliance with "the steps required by the IAEA Board". The country with which Joe Biden is particularly keen to improve relations, Cuba has suddenly been added to the list of terrorist sponsors.
Al-Qaeda has now set up its main base in Iran. Pompeo has also imposed new sanctions on several senior Iranian leaders and organizations. It is learned that even some institutions controlled by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei have been brought under the ban.
Although Joe Biden has no intention of moving away from commercial and technological competition with China, he is keen to change the tone of relations with China. One of his goals is to return to the nuclear deal with Iran. Democrats are under increasing pressure from within the left to put pressure on Saudi Arabia if necessary to end Yemen's bloody civil war.
Joe Biden has a personal desire to end hostilities with Cuba. But Mike Pompeo has also chosen to be in those places lately.
Now the question is, what can Joe Biden do with these last-minute decisions of the Trump administration on foreign policy? What is the alternative in front of him? Biden's advisers say Pompeo's decisions are politically motivated and could easily be overturned.
Adam Smith, a top lawyer, served as an adviser to the Treasury Department's sanctions department during the Barack Obama administration. Quoting him, the Financial Times of London wrote that it was legally possible to overturn Pompeo's instructions because they were, he said, executive orders that the president could change.