Global Reaction To Second Trump Presidency Suggests Broad Anxiety

As Americans processed Donald Trump’s Tuesday election victory, people and political leaders around the world began preparing for the second presidential term of a man who regularly demonizes foreigners and whose last tenure in the White House was defined by big, unexpected shifts on international issues.

The initial wave of reactions suggested widespread trepidation, particularly about the prospect that the U.S. is now firmly set to question its traditional alliances and its own democratic institutions.

Top global leaders congratulated Trump and said they look forward to working with him but also indicated they are trying to insulate their nations from the possible ramifications of his presidency.

That approach was clear in the tack of French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the leaders of the two most powerful countries in the European Union.

Both congratulated Trump. But they also held a phone call with each other during which in a statement.

Marietje Schaake, a Dutch politician who formerly served in the E.U.’s parliament, noted Trump’s links to dubious business figures like tech billionaire Elon Musk who are likely to challenge government regulation and influence his administration’s policy choices.

“The Trump victory is a victory for corporate tech, VCs and crypto powerbrokers,” Schaake, now a Stanford University nonresident fellow, wrote on X, using the acronym “VC” in reference to private equity investors. “The implications for transparency, civil liberties, democratic governance and accountability as well as a shaping of US (foreign) policies through their interests is one reason for concern.”

Trump’s bullying style towards other nations and leaders is likely to once again be a hallmark of his presidency. Several social media users in Japan posted fears that their prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, will struggle to contend with his new U.S. counterpart’s approach.

Speaking to the Financial Times, two senior E.U. officials were more forthright than the bloc’s leaders have been publicly. One who was part of a “war room” the Europeans set up to prepare for a new Trump administration said they were “afraid,” while the second said “it will be bad” on trade “and Ukraine is in big trouble.”

Europe’s own experience with populist and nationalist leaders, from the fascists who drove World War II to more contemporary political figures who consolidated power while casting themselves as anti-establishment, may offer some guidance for Americans and others globally about the Trump era.

Giulio Mattioli, a scholar at TU Dortmund University in Germany, drew a parallel to the experience of life under Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who dominated his nation’s politics for decades despite frequent scandals and overseeing the collapse of the Italian economy.

“When they win the first time, it’s tough, but when they win *again*, after all they’ve demonstrated, *that’s* the really hard one to take,” Mattioli wrote on X. “We live in liberal democracies with a lot of people who fundamentally reject key principles of liberal democracy.”

Yet it’s also from Europe that anti-Trump forces could draw inspiration, despite the seeming global lurch toward hard-right politics. In elections in Poland just about a year ago, opponents of the country’s hard-right party PiS succeeded in ejecting it from power after nearly a decade — a period during which PiS had molded the country’s judicial system, media and many government institutions in its image.

“One of the great strengths of democracy is the ability to self-correct when voters demand it,” The Washington Post’s editorial board wrote of that result when it occurred.