Unreliable. Creating extra issues than fixing them. A damaging pressure on the world stage. That is how giant shares of America’s closest allies view the U.S., based on new polling, as President Donald Trump pursues a sweeping international coverage overhaul.
Pluralities in Germany and France — and a majority of Canadians — say the U.S. is a damaging pressure globally, based on new worldwide POLITICO-Public First polling. Views are extra blended in the UK, however greater than a 3rd of respondents there share that dim evaluation.
Close to-majorities in all 4 international locations additionally say the U.S. tends to create issues for different international locations moderately than clear up them.
The findings supply a snapshot of how Trump’s reshaping of U.S. international coverage — together with by means of an expansive commerce agenda, sharp rhetoric towards longtime allies and reoriented army posture — is resonating throughout a few of Washington’s closest allies.
When requested whether or not the U.S. helps its allies world wide or challenges them, a majority of Canadians say the latter, in addition to just below half of respondents in Germany and France. Within the U.Ok., roughly 4 in 10 say the U.S. challenges, moderately than helps, its allies, greater than a 3rd say it can’t be trusted in a disaster, practically half say it creates issues for different international locations, and 35 p.c say the U.S. is a damaging pressure total.
Trump has blurred conventional strains of world alliances throughout his first yr again in workplace, notably in Canada and Europe. He known as Europe a “decaying” group of countries led by “weak” individuals in a latest POLITICO interview and his sweeping Nationwide Safety Strategyargued that the continent has misplaced its “national identities and self-confidence.”
Against this, the technique reserved much less scathing language for Russia — whilst U.S. allies in Europe gear up for what leaders have known as a “hybrid war” with Moscow.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the administration’s strategy when requested about European criticisms, saying the transatlantic alliance stays rooted in shared “civilizational” values. “I do think that at the core of these special relationships we have is the fact that we have shared history, shared values, shared civilizational principles that we should be unapologetic about,” Rubio mentioned at a briefing final week.
However as Trump disrupts long-standing relationships, skepticism amongst allied leaders could also be seeping into public sentiment, mentioned Matthew Kroenig, vice chairman and senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Heart for Technique and Safety.
“Public opinion in democracies often reflects elite opinion,” he mentioned. “What you’re probably seeing there is that you do have politicians in these countries expressing skepticism about the United States and about the Trump administration, and that’s being reflected in the public opinion polling.”
Leaders throughout Europe and Canada recalibrate underneath Trump’s international coverage agenda
That dynamic is enjoying out throughout Europe and Canada, as leaders throughout the international locations attempt to preserve the more and more strained relationships intact.
In Germany, wavering U.S. army assist for Ukraine, questions on Washington’s dedication to NATO and Trump’s tariff warfare have added urgency for Chancellor Friedrich Merz to maneuver past the nation’s long-established limits on protection spending and financial coverage. Weeks earlier than taking workplace, Merz secured a historic spending overhaul that unlocked a whole bunch of billions of euros for protection and infrastructure investments after years of self-imposed austerity.
“Every foreign policy statement by Trump is followed closely, and often discussed in light of what it may mean for U.S. policy shifts regarding European security issues, such as commitment to NATO, future U.S. troop presence in Europe, and support for Ukraine,” mentioned Dominik Tolksdorf, a transatlantic knowledgeable on the German Council on International Relations.
In France, the place skepticism towards the U.S. has long term deep, President Emmanuel Macron has pursued private diplomacy with Trump whereas utilizing the president’s unpredictability to bolster arguments for better European strategic autonomy.
“Handing over one’s sovereignty to another power is a mistake — De Gaulle said nothing else,” one high-ranking French army officer, who was granted anonymity to talk candidly, advised POLITICO. One other protection official mentioned Trump’s Nationwide Safety Technique had elevated “awareness that something is not right.”
Within the U.Ok., Trump stays polarizing, however Prime Minister Keir Starmer has largely averted public confrontation. His priorities now embrace finalizing a U.Ok.-U.S. commerce deal and coordinating a European response to Trump’s efforts to finish the warfare in Ukraine — with out angering the White Home, the fragile steadiness many allied leaders try to strike.
Canada, in the meantime, has seen the sharpest deterioration in relations, which have soured amid a punishing commerce warfare and Trump’s intermittent rhetoric on annexation.
Flavio Volpe, the president of Canada’s Automotive Components Producers’ Affiliation, described the financial disruption linked to Trump’s commerce strikes. “People lost their jobs — ones they worked their entire lives — and billions of dollars in Canadian capital evaporated in an unexplainable turn away from the bankable post-Cold War balance of power by the White House,” he wrote on LinkedIn.
Democrats stay skeptical of the U.S. on the world stage
Total, Individuals nonetheless view their nation extra favorably than their allies do. Practically half — 49 p.c — say the U.S. helps its allies world wide. A majority, 52 p.c, say it may be trusted in a disaster, and 51 p.c say the U.S. is a constructive pressure globally.
However Democrats — who’ve displayed deeply pessimistic views about their nation since Trump’s return to workplace — maintain much more damaging views.
Virtually half of voters who backed former Vice President Kamala Harris final yr — 47 p.c — additionally say the U.S. is a damaging pressure on this planet total, in contrast with simply 13 p.c of Trump voters. Three in 4 Trump voters say the U.S. is a constructive pressure on this planet.
Many Democrats additionally don’t simply specific skepticism concerning the U.S., however view different international locations and worldwide blocs as stronger fashions: 58 p.c of Harris voters say the European Union is a constructive pressure on this planet, and practically two-thirds — 64 p.c — say the identical about Canada, better than the shares who say the identical concerning the U.S.
“This tracks with our other research on the rapid change of perceptions of the U.S. over the last year,” mentioned Seb Wride, head of polling at Public First. “Americans themselves are not blind to it.”
Previous to the 2024 election, sturdy majorities of each Democrats and Republicans — 71 p.c and 69 p.c — mentioned the U.S. was a constructive pressure on this planet over the course of its whole historical past, Public First polling from October of final yr discovered.
Precisely one yr later, Democrats have sharply modified their views, with 77 p.c of Trump voters nonetheless saying the U.S. is constructive, in contrast with simply 58 p.c of Democrats.
“That’s around 1 in 8 Democrats changing their views on the role the U.S. has played in its entire history, in just one year,” mentioned Wride.
Voters who backed Trump final November overwhelmingly view the U.S. in a constructive gentle, however delicate variations emerge inside his coalition. Eighty-one p.c of self-identifying MAGA Trump voters say the U.S. is a constructive pressure on this planet total, in contrast with 71 p.c of non-MAGA Trump voters. Nonetheless, 17 p.c of non-MAGA Trump voters say the alternative, that the U.S. is a damaging pressure.
POLITICO’s Matt Honeycombe-Foster contributed reporting from the UK, Victor Goury-Laffont and Laura Kayali contributed from France, Nette Nöstlinger contributed from Germany and Nick Taylor-Vaisey contributed from Canada. Giselle Ruhiyyih Ewing additionally contributed.
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