Governor Murphy had a chance to talk about matters beyond the New Jersey borders in an interview Thursday morning on CNN International.
Murphy was the ambassador to Germany in the Obama Administration, making him the rare US governor with foreign policy experience.
Under the Biden Administration, Murphy said he expects to see “an America that is very clear-eyed and cold-blooded about who our friends are and who our adversaries are, and that our policies flow from that reality, and we’re stronger as it relates to our own national interests if we do things with alliances and with allies than if we go on our own.”
He went on to send this message to US allies. “We will once again be the America that they have come to know over the postwar World War II period,” he said, “with respect for alliances, whether they be multilateral or bilateral, and that’s not just because we’re nice people, which I think we are, but because that’s in our cold-blooded national interest.”
Murphy also said we should not necessarily expect a repeat performance of former president Barack Obama’s foreign policy under President Biden.
He also was asked how New Jersey is doing in its battle against the coronavirus, and the easing of restrictions on public indoor activities starting Friday, with capacity increasing to 35% from 25%. Murphy was asked if he thought this was wise with new variants of the virus entering the US. “Are we concerned about the variants? Absolutely,” said Murphy. “We’re watching them like a hawk. I think, put differently, if the variants weren’t among us, my guess is we would be opening up even further.”
The 10pm curfew will also be lifted.
Eleven cases of the UK variant of the virus have been identified in New Jersey as of last week.