Decoding Global Reactions to Trump’s Victory

Why some world leaders welcome another Trump term – and others are worried

DEEP DIVE

A television broadcasting the Presidential candidate Donald Trump giving his victory speech is watched, on the United States presidential election day, in Taipei, Taiwan, on 6 November, 2024. (Photo by Daniel Ceng/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Posted: November 6th, 2024

By Tom Nagorski

Tom Nagorski is the Managing Editor for The Cipher Brief. He previously served as Global Editor for Grid and served as ABC News Managing Editor for International Coverage as well as Senior Broadcast Producer for World News Tonight.

DEEP DIVE — It was, as Axios reporter Zachary Basu put it, “the most astonishing, gravity-defying comeback in the history of American politics.” But Donald Trump’s victory was also a thunderbolt felt well beyond U.S. shores. From the Middle East to Ukraine, the halls of NATO to those in the Kremlin, and in China and other parts of East Asia, Trump’s return to the presidency brings a blend of hope, fear and uncertainty.

World leaders congratulated Trump on Wednesday – some more warmly than others. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a longtime ally of the president-elect, called Trump’s win “history’s greatest comeback”; India’s Narendra Modi cheered the victory of his “friend”; and Hungary’s President Viktor Orban, the leader Trump singled out for praise in his September debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, congratulated Trump for “his enormous win…a much needed victory for the world!”

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