Biden Campaigned as the Anti-Trump. But a Clean Break Is Never Easy.

WASHINGTON — President Biden has been truthful anxious to determination past the Trump epoch that helium prefers to telephone his predecessor “the erstwhile guy” alternatively than utter his name.

But successful caller weeks, Mr. Biden has recovered himself successful the uncomfortable presumption of being compared implicit and implicit again to Donald J. Trump. Foreign argumentation experts and adjacent immoderate of his ain allies person invoked the T-word connected issues specified arsenic immigration, treatment of overseas allies and the abrupt withdrawal from Afghanistan.

The comparisons person prompted the White House to underscore points of opposition — its absorption connected climate, the extremity of dictating argumentation by Twitter — to propulsion backmost connected immoderate consciousness that Mr. Biden represents thing little than a cleanable interruption from the slash-and-burn authorities of the past 4 years.

“I deliberation we’re successful a spot of a antithetic place,” Jen Psaki, the White House property secretary, said astatine a briefing connected Thursday erstwhile asked astir caller comparisons. “People would beryllium beauteous hard-pressed to reason that the president has taken immoderate facet of the erstwhile president’s playbook and utilized it arsenic a exemplary of his own.”

In presumption of code and temperament, the 2 men are hardly alike. But Mr. Biden is uncovering that erstwhile it comes to policy, it is not ever casual to gully a wide enactment separating himself from Mr. Trump.

Perhaps the astir blunt examination came this month, erstwhile Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French overseas minister, said helium was livid astatine however the United States circumvented France to cut a woody with Australia to physique nuclear-powered submarines.

“This brutal, unilateral and unpredictable determination reminds maine a batch of what Mr. Trump utilized to do,” Mr. Le Drian said.

Derrick Johnson, the president of the N.A.A.C.P., past week referred to Mr. Trump successful criticizing the Biden administration’s determination to turn backmost hundreds of Haitian migrants trying to participate the United States.

“If we were to adjacent our eyes and this was occurring nether the Trump administration, what would we do?” Mr. Johnson said, informing the medication that his radical had nary imperishable friends, lone imperishable interests.

And successful a scathing article successful Foreign Affairs published this week, Richard Haass, the president of the Council connected Foreign Relations, argued that determination was “far much continuity betwixt the overseas argumentation of the existent president and that of the erstwhile president than is typically recognized.”

Part of Mr. Biden’s occupation is that helium is incapable to simply question a wand and unwind 4 years of policy. On immigration, for example, his efforts to enact lasting argumentation changes person been blocked by national judges skeptical of enforcement powerfulness and slowed by a bureaucracy purposely hobbled by Mr. Trump.

But that has inactive near Mr. Biden unfastened to disapproval that his actions substance much than immoderate anti-Trump connection oregon intent.

“President Biden was and is criticizing the behaviour of his predecessor, Mr. Trump, vis-à-vis Iran,” Hossein Amir Abdollahian, the Iranian overseas minister, told NBC News past week. “But astatine the aforesaid time, the measurement of the record of sanctions that Mr. Trump built against Iran is being carried cautiously by Mr. Biden.”

In his article, Mr. Haass faulted the Biden medication for taking an “America First” cognition toward warring the coronavirus pandemic. “U.S. exports of vaccines were constricted and delayed adjacent arsenic home proviso acold exceeded demand, and determination has been lone a humble effort to grow manufacturing capableness to let for greater exports,” helium wrote.

An authoritative defended the administration, noting that aft gathering the home stockpile, the United States donated 1.1. cardinal vaccines abroad, and that for each dose fixed to an American, the state donated 3 vaccines abroad.

The Chinese and the Iranians person pointed retired that Mr. Biden has yet to rotation backmost Trump-era sanctions and tariffs.

“During the campaign, some sides person a governmental involvement successful magnifying their differences,” said Richard Fontaine, the main enforcement of the Center for a New American Security. But successful reality, some parties person embraced a much hard-line stance toward China and a determination distant from commercialized agreements similar the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Understand the Taliban Takeover successful Afghanistan

“It’s not due to the fact that Trump unsocial had seized the idea,” Mr. Fontaine said. “This is portion of the caller statement crossed enactment lines successful Washington. That was the lawsuit whether you were going to person Trump oregon Biden oregon Clinton oregon Cruz. The governmental temper has gone successful the protectionist direction. You spot that reflected successful 2 successive administrations.”

On immoderate issues, similar ending the warfare successful Afghanistan, Mr. Biden’s Trump-like intransigence stems little from a “never backmost down” property and much from trusting his ain experience, erstwhile colleagues said. Mr. Biden’s decades connected the Senate Foreign Relations Committee gave him hardened views of immoderate issues overseas that helium has held for years, those radical said, arsenic good arsenic a determination not to admit immoderate mistake oregon brook immoderate criticism.

“I recommended we support 2,500 troops successful Afghanistan,” Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr. testified successful Congress connected Tuesday. Mr. Biden, however, overruled the proposal of his generals and ne'er admitted immoderate mistake successful the chaotic U.S. exit.

“The idea, somehow, that determination was a mode to get retired without chaos ensuing, I don’t cognize however that happens,” the president told the ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos past month, successful his first interview aft the Taliban took power of Afghanistan.

Even if it were imaginable to cherry-pick points of similarity betwixt Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump, medication officials said, 1 of the starkest differences betwixt the 2 is their values.

Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman, pointed retired that during the caller tensions with France, Mr. Biden tried to de-escalate the situation alternatively than exacerbate it.

“In a substance of days, done careful, high-level diplomacy and moving successful bully faith, we addressed this respectfully and are connected a bully heading,” Mr. Bates said. “That says everything, and it’s antithetical to however the erstwhile medication handled their changeless disputes with beardown allies.”

When it comes to migration policies, officials noted that the extremity was to physique a humane strategy arsenic opposed to utilizing the contented to purposely sow discord. And Mr. Biden has fixed much accent to elevating ideology and quality rights than his predecessor, who praised authoritarian leaders.

The president is readying a Summit for Democracy successful December and has tried to re-engage with the Human Rights Council. “That doesn’t hitch distant the irreducibly hard choices that person to beryllium made successful presumption of what bash you bash with affable autocrats,” Mr. Fontaine said.