New York: For four years, the world’s nations have watched as a very different American president engages with the international community — or doesn’t. Longtime alliances have been strained, agreements wiped away, tariffs erected, funding withdrawn.
Some nations have been the objects of presidential derision. Others, like North Korea, have been on the receiving end of diplomatic overtures once considered unthinkable.
For countries around the planet, the presidency of Donald Trump in its first term has been a singular experience to watch. Now that an inflection point in Trump’s time in office is at hand with Tuesday’s US election, what’s at stake if his presidency ends — or if it continues? Nation by nation, how is Election Day in the United States being watched, considered, assessed?
CHINA
It’s all about trade for China. Trade is about hitting economic growth targets at home and being a technology leader abroad. It has been a stormy commercial relationship between the world’s two biggest economies since President Donald Trump took office. So China will naturally watch the US elections with interest. A win for Democratic challenger Joe Biden offers no guarantee of relief. However, Beijing hopes to avoid a further deterioration and see negotiations put on an even keel.
“People are concerned. They want to know what their future is to be,” said investor and prominent blogger Ding Chenling. “Whoever is the US president he has no choice: They will have to do business with China,” Ding added.
Trump seized on longstanding concerns about Chinese commercial espionage, the forced handover of technology, and state subsidies for Chinese companies. He elevated them into a high-stakes tariff war launched in 2018, and last year tightened controls on Chinese purchases of computer chips and other high-tech components.
Meanwhile, Trump’s vow that China would pay for allegedly cheating the US consumer has affected balanced trade.
“I believe Joe Biden would ease relations,” said Qu Zhan, a Beijing health care worker.
THE PHILIPPINES
The next US president could reshape the country’s relationship with President Rodrigo Duterte, who leads a key American treaty ally in Asia — but presents a dilemma.
Duterte has been regarded by international watchdogs as a human rights calamity for his notorious anti-drug crackdown that has left thousands of mostly poor suspects dead. He has been accused of undermining one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies — an American legacy.
Known for his expletive-laced outbursts, the 75-year-old leader is hypersensitive to criticism of his so-called war on drugs. He once told then-President Barack Obama in a speech to ‘go to hell’. Unlike his predecessor, President Donald Trump has not publicly raised red flags over Duterte’s brutal campaign.
Trump’s gambit won him cozier ties with Duterte, who called on Filipino Americans in March to vote Republican, saying, ‘you are getting the best deal with Trump’. But the Filipino leader has pressed on with his anti-US broadsides while nurturing ties with China and Russia. In February, his government notified Washington of its intent to terminate a key security pact, although he later delayed the effect of that decision.
While a Trump reelection would likely mean business as usual for Duterte, a Biden presidency carries the prospect of a stronger US pushback against Duterte at the risk of further alienating the leader of a crucial ally with less than two years left in office.
