BusinessDay 17 Aug 2017

Thursday 17 August 2017
Harvard
Business
Review
Global Business Perspectives
CONNECTING THE WORLD ONE BUSINESS AT A TIME
BUSINESS DAY
9
Global Confidence in the United States Is Shaken
Though only six
months old, Donald
Trump’s presidency
already has had a
major impact on
how the world views the United
States. Trump and many of his
key policies are broadly unpopular
around the globe and,
according to a Pew Research
Center survey spanning 37 nations,
ratings for the United
States have declined steeply
in many nations. The rare
countries where confidence
in America has grown include
Israel and Russia, with Israelis
and Russians expressing greater
support for Trump than for his
predecessor, President Barack
Obama.
Criticism of the United States
and its president for stubbornly
rejecting trade agreements such
as the Trans-Pacific Partnership
or policies that could stem climate
change are an indicator of
the lack of public will in many
countries to have their leaders
cooperate with the Trump
White House.
A median of 22% responding
to the survey said that they
had confidence in Trump to do
the right thing when it comes
to international affairs. This
stands in sharp contrast to the
final years of Obama’s presidency,
when a median of 64%
expressed confidence in him.
A median of 64% had a positive
view of the nation in the last
years of the Obama presidency,
but today only 49% are favorably
inclined toward America.
The decline in confidence in
the president has come mostly
in advanced economies. America’s
image also has suffered in
emerging markets and developing
countries, however, where
some of Trump’s proposed
policies — notably his promise
to build a wall along the Mexican
border and his efforts to
restrict entry into the United
States from Muslim-majority
countries — are particularly
unpopular.
A majority of Israelis and
President Donald Trump and his wife, Melania, escort former President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama to their
helicopter after the inauguration ceremony at the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 20, 2017
Russians, at 56%, and 53% respectively,
has confidence in
the U.S. president. In Europe,
however, a median of only 18%
has confidence in Trump to do
the right thing regarding world
affairs.
The president is not much
more popular in the rest of the
world. A median of only 14% in
Latin America expresses confidence
in him, including 5% in
Mexico, 12% in Chile and 13% in
Argentina. In comparison, 49%
of Mexicans had confidence in
Obama in his last year in office,
as did 60% of Chileans and 40%
of Argentines. Trump’s ratings
are closer to some of those given
President George W. Bush in
his last year: 16% in Mexico, 7%
in Argentina.
Such disapproval surely is
due, at least in part, to Trump’s
proposal to build a wall along
the border between the United
States and Mexico to stem the
flow of undocumented immigrants.
A median of 83% of Latin
Americans disapproves of such
plans. Moreover, Latin Americans
express harsh judgments
of Trump’s personality. A median
of 82% suggests that he is arrogant,
77% that he is intolerant
and 66% that he is dangerous.
In sub-Saharan Africa a median
of 50% has confidence in
Trump. This includes 26% in
Senegal and 39% in South Africa.
Overall 56% of people in the
region have a favorable view of
the United States. Confidence
in the U.S. president is down
51 points in Senegal, however,
down 33 points in Ghana and
down 27 points in Tanzania.
Although more than half
the public in Ghana, Senegal
and Tanzania still expresses a
positive view of America, such
sentiment is down 30 points in
Ghana, 25 points in Senegal and
21 points in Tanzania.
Much of this decline may be
attributed to opposition to proposed
Trump administration
policies. Only roughly a third
of the public in sub-Saharan
Africa favors Trump’s proposals
to pull out of international
climate-change agreements, to
restrict entry to the U.S. from
some Muslim-majority countries
and to withdraw from
major trade agreements. Notably,
despite lukewarm feelings
about Trump’s policies, a median
of 61% of sub-Saharan Africans
views Trump as a strong
leader and 51% agree that he is
qualified to hold his office.
Views of Trump and the U.S.
are low in the Middle East, except
in Israel, where 56% of
respondents have a positive
opinion of the president, up 7
points over Obama. In most of
the region, views of America
and its leader declined sharply
during the Bush era and did not
recover with Obama. Only 9%
of Jordanians, 11% of Turks and
15% of Lebanese see Trump in
a positive light. This is down 34
points in Turkey and 21 points
in Lebanon from assessments
of Obama.
Much of this may be due to
strong opposition to Trump’s
proposed restrictions on the
entry into the U.S. of people
from Muslim-majority countries:
Ninety-six percent of
Jordanians and 88% of Lebanese
disapprove of such plans.
Trump’s image has done little
to harm views of the United
States in Lebanon and Jordan,
however, where U.S. favorability
is low and relatively unchanged
compared with the Obama era.
2017 Harvard Business School Publishing Corp. Distributed by The New York Times Syndicate
Only in Asia do publics
in emerging and developing
countries have a mixed view of
the United States and its new
president. In India 40% have
confidence in Trump, down
18 points from their view of
Obama last year, and 45% voice
no opinion. Only 23% of Indonesians
have faith in the U.S.
chief executive, down 41 points
from their view of Obama, who
spent a portion of his boyhood
in that country. Views of the
U.S. are down 14 points in Indonesia
and 7 points in India.
At the same time, Trump is
relatively popular in both the
Philippines, at 69%, and Vietnam,
at 58%, his highest ratings
among the 37 nations surveyed.
These assessments are lower
than views of Obama, however,
down 25 points in the Philippines
and 13 points in Vietnam.
Still, Philippine and Vietnamese
judgments of Trump may be
buoying opinions of the United
States: 84% of Vietnamese and
78% of Filipinos have a favorable
opinion of America, the
highest rating for the nation in
the 2017 Pew Research Center
survey.
The nation’s image and global
confidence in the U.S. president
suffered under the Bush
administration after 2000, but
recovered during Obama’s tenure.
The Trump era began on a
sour note throughout much of
the world, including emerging
and developing nations.
During the Bush years opposition
to the United States and
to its leader often made it difficult
for leaders of other nations
to work with the United States
on issues such as Iraq. So far,
possibly aware of their citizens’
wariness of the Trump administration,
many leaders are proceeding
with their own plans on
climate change, trade and the
conflicts in Afghanistan, North
Korea and Syria.
(Bruce Stokes is director of
global economic attitudes at the
Pew Research Center.)