International trust in the US has collapsed in Donald Trump’s second term, according to a damning new poll, amid growing concerns over the president’s foreign policy.
The Pew Research Center surveyed more than 42,000 people in 36 countries between February and May, finding an overwhelmingly negative response to Trump around the globe.
Overall the poll found 76 percent of adults questioned had no confidence in Trump’s leadership on the world stage, with just 23 percent having confidence.
“Trump gets mostly poor marks for his handling of key foreign policy issues, including tariffs, Gaza, Iran, Greenland and the Russia-Ukraine war,” a report by the nonpartisan American thinktank said. “There is no country surveyed in which attitudes toward him have become more positive.”
The countries with the lowest opinion of Trump included Turkey (with 92 percent of those polling having no confidence in the president to do the right thing on world affairs) followed by Sweden (89 percent) and Mexico (88 percent).
Trump was most popular in the Philippines (68 percent confident), Israel (66 percent) and Nigeria (65 percent).
Trump’s second term has been marked by an increasingly confrontational foreign policy, imposing tariffs on countries around the world, abducting Venezuela’s leader, threatening to seize Greenland and starting an unpopular war against Iran.
His administration has also taken to routinely criticising traditional allies of the US, including Nato members over the amount they spend on defence and accusing European nations of failing to tackle migration.
The White House argues this is all part of restoring the standing of the United States on the global stage, and making sure Americans aren’t “taken advantage of”.
However, Trump actions appear to have had a knock-on effect for the world’s perception of the United States as a whole, the survey suggests.
Overall, 57 percent of those polled had an unfavourable view of the US compared to 37 percent with a favourable opinion.
Some of the traditionally closest allies of the US have seen trust plunge in the last four years, according to the poll.
“Overall ratings for the United States are also largely negative. Favourable views of the country have declined in many places over the past year,” Pew researchers said.
“The share of the public who considers the US a reliable partner has declined steeply in many countries since we last asked this question in 2022, during Joe Biden’s presidency.”
Back in 2022, some 82 percent of those polled in the UK saw the US as a reliable partner but four years on that number has plunged to 49 percent.
Similar drops were found in other countries including Canada, with the 83 percent who saw the US as reliable four years ago falling to just 35 percent now.
Trump’s ‘America First’ approach to international relations has seen him withdraw the US from several UN commitments while also reducing overseas aid. He has scaled down military and political support for Ukraine, as its defence against Russian invasion nears four-and-a-half years.
In one stark figure, nearly one in three (63 percent) believe the the US does not contribute to peace and stability worldwide, compared to 35 per cent that believe it does.
Three in four (76 per cent) people disapprove of how Trump handled Gaza, compared to just 18 per cent who believe he handled it well.
Even more (77 per cent) disapprove of his aggressive tariff policy, with again just 18 per cent thinking it was the right move.
The numbers are similarly negative for several other global issues in which Trump has heavily involved himself.
In terms of his handling of the Russia-Ukraine war, 72 per cent disapprove while 20 per cent approve, while his designs on Greenland were approved by just 14 per cent, and disapproved by 68 per cent.
Trump’s clash with Venezuela, which saw the dramatic capture of former president Maduro earlier this year, was approved by 22 per cent and disapproved by 63 per cent.
In a statement on the poll to The Independent, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said: “President Trump has made his disappointment with NATO and other allies clear, and he has consistently said that Europe must take greater responsibility for its own defence.
“Europe benefits tremendously from the tens of thousands of United States troops stationed in Europe – yet requests to use military bases in order to defend American interests were denied.
