CANADA. – A new international survey from the Pew Research Center reveals a significant decline in global confidence in the U.S., with Canada among the most critical of its allies. The poll of over 28,000 people across 24 countries found that opinions of U.S. leadership have worsened over the past year in more than half of the nations surveyed.
Across the globe, only 34% of respondents expressed some confidence in Donald Trump to “do the right thing in world affairs.” The sentiment was particularly negative in Mexico, Germany, Sweden, and Spain. In Canada, opinions of the U.S. saw a steep drop, with over 80% of Canadians expressing little or no confidence in President Trump’s global leadership, according to a separate Pew survey.
The negative view in Canada is largely linked to Trump’s history of threatening tariffs on Canadian goods and his past proposals on issues like environmental policy, which is a high priority for many Canadians.
The survey also highlighted how different regions are responding to the U.S. administration. In contrast to the high disapproval rates in many Western nations, a majority of respondents in a few countries, including Nigeria, Kenya, Israel, Hungary, and India, expressed confidence in the U.S. leader.
However, the survey also found that major global powers like China and India have responded to Trump’s policies with a mix of defiance and satire. Chinese state media, for instance, has circulated AI-generated memes mocking the U.S. president’s push to revive manufacturing through tariffs, with one diplomat noting that China is literally “laughing” at the trade wars. In India, Trump’s tariff threats were met with “firm defiance,” with political opponents and foreign diplomats openly denouncing the moves as unfair and unsustainable.
The survey found that across all countries, respondents were least confident about Trump’s handling of the climate crisis, and majorities in many allied nations, including Canada, were concerned with his approach to the Russia-Ukraine war. While a majority of global respondents viewed Trump as “arrogant” and “dangerous,” a similar proportion also described him as a “strong leader,” a view that has grown in some countries.
