The victory of Donald J. Trump in the 2016 election has been met with both protest and praise in the United States but considering how important foreign relations are to maintaining order in the U.S. and around the world, it is necessary to listen to how other countries are reacting to the Trump candidacy.
In Russia, Trump’s victory was welcomed and celebrated. The president, Vladimir Putin, sent Trump a telegram expressing congratulations, and the pro-Kremlin party, the majority of the chamber, exploded in raucous applause.
Vyacheslav Novikov, a member of the foreign affairs committee of the United Russian Party, praised Trump for winning in a state address and praised Clinton for accepting defeat graciously, saying: “three minutes ago, Hillary Clinton acknowledged her defeat in the U.S. presidential elections and just a second ago, Trump began his speech as President-elect. I congratulate all of you on this.”
The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, too sent Trump a congratulatory telegram. The Chinese government expressed the the hope of working closely with the new U.S. administration to build a lasting bond, and stated that there was no doubt that the countries could handle disputes maturely.
“We look forward to working together with the new US administration to push forward consistent, healthy and stable China-US relations which could be beneficial to the people of the two countries and to the world,” said the spokesman of the foreign ministry, Lu Kang.
In Mexico, the president, Enrique Peña Nieto, refrained from congratulating Trump for his win on Twitter, and instead congratulated the United States on its political process. After Trump’s victory, the value of the Mexican peso took a sharp decline, and Trump has rejected the North American Free Trade Agreement, which generated billions of dollars in venue for both countries.
Nevertheless, Peña Nieto stated that Mexico and the U.S. “are friends, partners and allies who should continue collaborating for the competitiveness and development of North America.”
Throughout his campaign Donald Trump has criticized the Iran nuclear deal and vowed to end it. Upon learning about the election results, the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, made it clear that regardless of what happens in the U.S., the terms of the deal will be held up in Iran.
“The US election results will have no impact on the policies of the Islamic Republic,” said Rouhani.
Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, drove that point further by stating: “Iran and America have no political relations, but it is important that the future US president realises his duty to uphold the multilateral obligations of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and we expect the international community to require this of the United States of America.”
The European Union, which has had a strong and longstanding relationship with the U.S. has expressed both congratulations and concern with the outcome of the election.
Upon hearing the results, Donald Tusk, president of the European council, and Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European commission, wrote a congratulatory letter to Trump inviting him to Europe for an EU-US summit that held a tone of urgency.
The summit is meant to clear up some of the President-elect’s comments about migration, the threat on Ukraine from Russia, and climate change that the EU finds worrying.
Tusk said that it would be impossible for a nation to be great in isolation, stating: “America and Europe can, should, and will work together,” and that such a partnership would require “major efforts from both sides.”
Despite how his win is being received in the motherland, positively or negatively, Donald Trump will become the President of the United States this coming January and will have to engage in foreign relations. Whether how his victory was received by each nation is an indicator of how future relations will go, only time will tell.
