What to expect from Joe Biden as president

On Wednesday 20 January, Joe Biden's four years in the White House will begin under difficult circumstances.

The country, which is now his responsibility to lead, has become deeply divided.

From racism, climate change and coronavirus, Joe Biden's plan to solve serious issues in America could not be further from the approach of the man he's replacing, Donald Trump.

The start of 2021 has shown just how angry many people are with Biden running the country and President Trump has been blamed for encouraging violence after his supporters rioted at the US Capitol building in Washington DC on 6 January.

The events resulted in Trump being impeached for a second time, something he says is causing "tremendous anger" among the 70 million Americans who voted for him.

One of Joe Biden's biggest challenges as leader of the country is to unite the United States, including supporters of President Trump, especially those who still believe claims that the election was 'stolen' or 'unfair'.

As he becomes president, Biden will stand in front of the same building that rioters broke into two weeks ago, as he promises, to the best of his ability, 'preserve and protect' the Unites States.

But will he deliver on key issues?

Racism

Joe Biden has promised to help the country heal after the events of 2020 which saw several anti-racism protests across the United States.

It followed the death of George Floyd who died while being stopped by police in Minneapolis.

At the time President Donald Trump criticised demonstrations that had turned violent and called for law and order, which resulted in clashes between protestors and the police.

The behaviour of the police last year has been compared to the riots in Washington DC at the start of 2021.

Joe Biden said anti-racism protestors would have been treated differently, had it been them breaking into the Capitol building.

"No one can tell me that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting... they wouldn't have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol," Biden said.

In Philadelphia, a city with a long history of civil rights and anti-racism protests, 14-year-old Sophia says the police do treat black people differently and the attack at the Capitol was proof of that.

"Our government system is racist, because literally, they didn't do anything about it. I know if it was BLM protesters, if they even got close to the stairs, there would have been a whole army blocked off and throwing tear gas and everything to get them away."

Figures show that you're more likely to be killed by police if you're black, than if you're white in America.

Joe Biden says that after George Floyd's death and the protests that followed, the behaviour of the police has to be changed and improved.

But 15 year old Tiara, who also lives in Philadelphia, isn't convinced anything will change.

"Yes they said Black Lives Matter. But when you really look at their past careers and the things they've done in the past it it seems more like pandering. Like they were trying to get the black vote," she said.

Immigration

As America's population changes, minorities are quickly becoming the majority in parts of the United States.

Hazleton in Pennsylvania is an area of the US where many families have moved to from the Dominican Republic, a country in the Caribbean.

Fifteen year old Yamile came to live in the city three years ago.

"While President Donald Trump has been in power, it has definitely been very hard for the immigrants. He has made us feel more like we are not included here. Like we're not welcome…

"I just wish I really hope Joe Biden changes that and, you know, actually makes immigrants feel like people and not objects or, or trash, because that's how most immigrants feel with President Donald Trump."

Joe Biden wants to make big changes with immigration, giving citizenship to undocumented immigrants and a group known as Dreamers, the young people who were brought to America when they were young, but don't have legal documents to stay in the country.

As president, Biden has promised to stop construction on the border wall between Mexico and USA - but that doesn't mean that he's taking the existing wall down. In fact, there have been construction crews working 24 hours a day to finish as much wall as possible before President Trump left the White house.

Coronavirus

The US has seen more people die from coronavirus than any other country.

The pandemic has also seen thousands of businesses close and millions of American adults losing their jobs.

Joe Biden has promised to trust the science when it comes to taking action. He is pro mask wearing, something that Donald Trump never committed to while he was in charge and is in favour of lockdowns if they are necessary.

A different approach to Donald Trump, who wanted to keep as much of the country open for business to maintain a good economy.

Joe Biden says he plans to get the coronavirus pandemic under control in America by increasing testing and vaccinations.

Climate change

The Democrats, the political party Joe Biden belongs to has control of the Senate and the House of Representatives.

That means as president, it will be easier for Mr Biden to make changes to America, including plans he has to help the environment.

"The wrath of climate change is here, now, in America," Biden said following a 2020 of record wildfires and storms.

But trying to fix the problem is a difficult task. The climate crisis was largely ignored by the Trump administration which aimed to put American jobs first ahead of any environmental targets.

In 2017, in his first year as president, Donald Trump pulled the US out of something called the Paris agreement.

The agreement was signed by several world leaders in 2015, including then US president Barack Obama. It was a promise made by countries to try and stop the causes of climate change.

Deciding to leave the deal, Donald Trump said the agreement punished America and was bad for those working in the coal industry in the US.

Five years on from the Paris agreement and the world is still not on track to reach all of its targets.

The US is Earth's second biggest polluter behind China and as president, Joe Biden plans to rejoin the agreement with a renewed commitment to reduce greenhouse gasses responsible for global warming.