Overall, only one in five people in the European Union say they currently see the US as an ally.
Europeans view Donald Trump’s return to the White House with pessimism, but many countries believe in a positive effect on various conflicts, concludes in a survey carried out by in 24 States.
Only 24% in the UK, 31% in South Korea and 34% in the EU (average result across 11 EU countries surveyed) believe that Trump’s return will make peace in Ukraine more likely, and even fewer people (16 % in the UK, 25% in the EU and 19% in South Korea) think it facilitates the resolution of the conflict in the Middle East.
More broadly, only one in five people in the EU say they currently see the US as an ally.
This number represents a significant drop compared to two years ago (31%) and contrasts with the proportion of North Americans who consider the EU an ally (45%).
However, the majority of respondents from the 24 countries covered by the study revealed that they were optimistic and believed that the Republican “will not only be good for America, but will also bring peace or reduce tensions in Ukraine, the Middle East and US-China relations”.
O Trump’s return is particularly appreciated among citizens of BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Iran) and Turkey.
In countries like India and China, Turkey and Brazilthe majority thinks Donald Trump’s return is good for world peacefor their countries and for North American citizens.
In Ukraine, respondents are more positive than in the rest of Europe, but show deep conflict over the terms of a possible deal with Moscow.
Outside Europe, many see the EU as a power comparable to the United States and China and predict the European bloc’s influence to grow over the next decade.
The bloc is also widely seen as an “ally” or “necessary partner” by respondents, especially in Ukraine and the United States, with an opinion only contradicted by Russia.
With Trump’s return, “divisions will not only occur between the US and Europe, but also within the EU itself”
The foreign policy experts and authors of the report, , e state, however, that European leaders may have difficulty uniting to present a common resistance to the elected President of the USA.
“Over the past two years, with the Biden administration side-by-side with Europe in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, it was still possible to talk about a ‘united West’ in foreign policy,” but With Trump’s return, “divisions will not only occur between the US and Europe, but also within the EU itself“, they defend.
The study, carried out in November – after -, in collaboration with the Europe in a Changing World project at the University of Oxford and in partnership with collected data from 11 EU Member States (Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary), as well as China, the United Kingdom, Ukraine, India, Turkey, Russia, USA , Brazil, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Indonesia, South Korea and Switzerland, and was commissioned by polling institutes YouGov, Datapraxis and Gallup International Association.
