President Biden begins his final week in office Monday with a staunch defense of his foreign policy, arguing in a speech to be delivered this afternoon that America has become stronger under him.

With just seven days until he hands over the White House to President-elect Donald J. Trump, Mr. Biden hopes to use his remaining time to frame his historic legacy as a transformational leader who strengthened the United States at home and abroad even in just one term.

The effort begins Monday at 2 p.m. with a speech at the State Department focusing on what he sees as his successes in the international arena. He plans to say he has strengthened American alliances both in Europe despite Russian aggression and in the Asia-Pacific amid China’s rise. At the same time, he plans to argue that America’s adversaries – particularly Russia, China and Iran – are all weaker than when he took office.

“They will ask the question: Is America stronger than we were four years ago? And he’s going to answer the question with a resounding yes,” Jake Sullivan, his national security adviser, he said in the review on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “Our alliances are stronger, as I said before. Our enemies and competitors are weaker. We kept the nation from war. Every element of American power is stronger today.”

The speech will be the first this week aimed at presenting the best case for Mr. Biden’s presidency as it draws to a close. He will give a widely televised farewell address to the nation in prime time on Wednesday night, as many presidents have done. He will also give speeches this week about his preservation and at a farewell ceremony for the commander-in-chief at Joint Base Myers-Henderson Hall.

When it comes to foreign policy, Mr. Biden was at the helm during a stormy time and Mr. Trump has blamed him for the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, even though US troops are not directly involved on the ground in either place. Some critics said Mr. Biden’s perception of a world on fire and out of control contributed to the erosion of his political popularity at home and his eventual withdrawal from the election under pressure.

“The fact that Biden is returning the presidency to his predecessor is partly a reflection of the shortcomings of his foreign policy,” said Peter Rough, director of the Center for Europe and Eurasia at the Hudson Institute and a former aide to the president, George W. Grm.

“For most of his time in office, Biden has been on the defensive, first in Ukraine and then in Gaza,” continued Mr. Rough. “The president’s 1990s-era liberal internationalism may have been well-intentioned, but it always seemed out of step with the power politics of the 2020s.”

More, a new Gallup poll released Monday showed that America’s position in Europe had improved considerably under Mr. Biden. Of the 30 NATO allies surveyed, approval of American leadership has increased in all but four since 2020, Mr. Trump in office. Approval ratings rose by double digits in 20 out of 30 countries. In Germany, for example, approval of American leadership rose from just 6 percent under Mr. Trump to 52 percent under Mr. Biden.

By withdrawing American troops from Afghanistan and pulling America out of the longest war in its history, Mr. Biden has finally achieved what his two predecessors wanted but didn’t. But the chaotic nature of the withdrawal significantly damaged his reputation and the country’s reputation in the world.

Mr. Biden rallied much of the world to oppose Russia’s unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine and reinvigorated NATO after ties soured under Mr. With Trump, it even received two new members, Sweden and Finland. He directed tens of billions of dollars worth of American weapons to Ukraine, helping thwart Moscow’s attempt to take over the country.

But Mr. Biden has been criticized from two different directions; some complained that he was too reticent to deliver more powerful weapons for fear of escalation with a nuclear superpower, while others complained that he was investing too much American treasure in someone else’s war. And after the initial stunning success, the defense of Ukraine stalled and Mr. Trump is now promising to end the war with what are expected to be concessions to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin.

The war in Gaza that followed the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023 was the second dominant crisis during Mr. Biden. He stood firm with Israel and provided weapons for its all-out assault on Hamas, but eventually grew frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who refused American pressure to do more to curb civilian casualties and alleviate humanitarian suffering.

Even now, in his last days, Mr. Biden is scrambling to seal an elusive ceasefire deal that would end the fighting and result in the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, including several with US citizenship. Mr. Sullivan said on Sunday that US negotiators were “very, very close” to a deal, but it was not clear that it could be finalized until next Monday when Mr. Trump takes office.

As with Ukraine, Mr. Biden has faced criticism from both directions. On the one hand, they accused him of not doing more to stop the killing of civilians, and called him “genocide Joe” at protests. On the other hand, he was blamed for pressuring Israel to hold back in the face of an existential terrorist threat.