President Joe Biden has declared that the United States is still at the pinnacle of global power and best suited to “lead the world,” despite the Supreme Court’s recent “destabilizing” ruling on abortion, soaring inflation and growing civil unrest.

Speaking after the conclusion of the latest NATO summit in Madrid on Thursday, Biden said world leaders lavished him with praise throughout the three-day event, claiming he had “not seen anyone come up to me to [say] anything other than … ‘Thank you for America’s leadership. You’ve changed the dynamic of NATO and the G7.’” 

“America is better positioned to lead the world than we ever have been. We have the strongest economy in the world. Our inflation rates are lower than other nations in the world,” he continued.

While the president said the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade abortion case last week was “destabilizing” for the country, he insisted international observers “haven’t found one person, one world leader, to say America is going backwards.”

Aside from the ruling, which he claimed “essentially [challenged] the right to privacy,” the US has “been a leader in the world in terms of personal rights and privacy rights,” Biden said. “And it is a mistake, in my view, for the Supreme Court to do what it did.”

However, a number of countries in attendance at the NATO summit have been more critical than Biden let on, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson stating the US took a “big step backwards” with the Roe decision, while Canadian premier Justin Trudeau said the ruling was “horrific.” Leaders in Greece, Germany, Belgium and Luxembourg have cited similar concerns in public.

Moreover, a US-led sanctions campaign in retaliation for Russia’s attack on Ukraine has also created economic havoc for American allies and the United States itself, helping to drive up global energy costs while doing little to harm Russian oil revenues. Russia’s currency, the ruble, has also rallied despite the penalties, becoming one of the world’s best performing currencies against the US dollar.