Foreign leaders react as Donald Trump claims victory in the 2024 US election

As former President Donald Trump looks poised to resume his role as commander-in-chief of the world's most powerful military and largest economy — and he's wasting no time saying to win on tuesday US presidential election – Leaders around the world began to react on Wednesday to the second hope in the White House of the businessman turned politician.

From the fervor expressed by Israel's leader as he fought an escalating, progressive war to the concerns of America's closest, old European generations, the reaction to Trump's election began to emerge long before the final votes were counted. an important battleground across the US

Below is a look at how some foreign leaders and others around the world have taken the news of American voters' suspicion of Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party in the election.

Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu congratulated Trump on Wednesday, calling his election “a historic comeback!”

“Your return to the White House provides a new beginning for America and a strong commitment to the greater alliance between Israel and America,” Netanyahu said. “This is a great victory!”

Despite Trump's criticism of the Israeli leader's handling of the ongoing war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, Netanyahu is believed to be favoring the former American leader in the US elections, as tensions between Washington and Tel Aviv have increased dramatically over the past year due to Israel's tactics in Previous war with Iranian-backed groups in the Middle East.

The war in Gaza, which was triggered by a terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023 in which the army killed about 1,200 people and captured about 250 others, has now killed more than 43,000 people in the Palestinian territory, according to the health ministry run by Hamas. . Israel has also stepped up its attacks on Hezbollah, Hamas's Iranian allies in Lebanon. The attack on Israel has killed more than 3,000 people, according to Lebanon's health ministry.

The Biden administration continued to push for a ceasefire on both sides, to no avail, and demanded that Israel do more to reduce the war's devastating civilian impact.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog, whose role is largely symbolic, also congratulated Trump “on his historic return to the White House.”

“He is a true and dear friend of Israel, and a champion of peace and cooperation in our region,” Herzog said. “I look forward to working with you to strengthen the strong bond between our people, to build a future of peace and security in the Middle East, and to uphold our shared values. On behalf of the Jewish and democratic State of Israel, and all of our people, I wish you great success.”

Viktor of Hungary Orbán

One of the first foreign leaders to congratulate Trump on Wednesday was one of the very few he openly supported him Long before the final votes were cast in the US Hungarian President Viktor Orbán, who has been accused during his leadership of the eastern European country of undermining their democratic institutions by giving them more power and reducing the country's courts and national borders. public institutions, which called Trump's apparent success “the most needed victory on Earth!”

In a message posted on social media, Orbán said Trump had pulled off “the biggest comeback in American political history,” and congratulated him on his “great victory.”

Orban has made himself an outsider among European Union leaders by endorsing anti-immigrant policies and maintaining close ties with President Vladimir Putin during Russia's ongoing invasion of neighboring Ukraine – all while talking about his close relationship with Trump.

In his speech this summer, Orbán suggested that he even helped shape the future of Trump, saying that he “got into the process of writing the policy of President Donald Trump's party,” with “deep involvement there.”

Head of the foreign affairs committee of the Russian parliament

Leonid Slutsky, who heads the International Affairs Committee of the Russian State Duma, or parliament, was quoted on Wednesday by the country's RIA Novosti news agency as saying that Trump's victory offers “an opportunity for a constructive approach to the conflict in Ukraine.”

“Trump was a great businessman in big politics. Can we expect changes in the ways of the role of the US in the conflict in Ukraine, which has been promoted by the Democratic administration since 2014? Judging by the election rhetoric (if it can still be believed), the Republican team will not send more American taxpayers' money to the furnace of the war of proxy against Russia,” Slutsky was quoted as saying. “Perhaps there is an opportunity for a positive approach here.”

Slutsky did not comment on Trump's repeated vows to immediately end the war in Ukraine if he is re-elected – something European and Ukrainian leaders fear he might by stopping major American military support for Kyiv and forcing Ukraine to accept Russia's takeover of key Ukrainian territory.

Slutsky predicted, however, that if the next US administration cuts off that support, the US-backed Ukrainian government of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will fall “in a matter of months, if not days.”

There was no immediate reaction from President Vladimir Putin, who has never spoken for any candidate during the US election campaign, but his leadership. Trump praised previously.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer did his best on Wednesday, despite a clear explanation in the middle his policies and those who are expected to be managed by another Trump, to maintain the decoration of the “special friendship” between the two nations.

In a social media post, Starmer congratulated Trump on his “historic election victory,” adding that he looked forward to “working with you in the years to come.”

“As our closest allies, we stand shoulder to shoulder to defend our shared values ​​of freedom, democracy and enterprise,” said Starmer, who came to power a few months ago as Britain's Labor Party won a general election after a conflict. a decade and a half of Conservative Party rule.

“I know that the special US-UK relationship will continue to flourish on both sides of the Atlantic for years to come,” added Starmer.

French President Emmanuel Macron

“Congratulations, President @realDonaldTrump,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a brief statement posted on social media Wednesday. He announced that his administration is “ready to work together” and as it was during Trump's first term, “with your beliefs and mine. With respect and with wishes. For more peace and prosperity.”

But an hour later, the French president issued another statement expressing concerns that he and many of his European colleagues likely share. Trump's commitment to NATO's transatlantic allianceAmerica's future is supporting Ukraine in a war with Russia, as well as its own foreign exchange status.

In his second tweet, Macron said he recently spoke with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and that the leaders of the two largest EU economies agreed to “work for a united, stronger, more independent Europe in this new context. The United States of America also defends the interests ours and our values.”

Ursula von der Leyen of the European Union

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Union bloc's governing body, the European Commission, congratulated Trump on Wednesday and expressed her hope in a short social media post that the US and the EU “can work together on a strong transatlantic agenda going forward “to the citizens of both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

“I warmly congratulate Donald J. Trump. The EU and the US are more than just allies,” Von der Leyen said. “We are bound by true cooperation among our people, which includes 800 million citizens. So let's work together in a strong transatlantic system that continues to bring them together.”