By T N Ashok
WASHINGTON: Donald Trump, the 47th president of the United States, has virtually shaken the world with his aggressive domestic and foreign policies – anti immigration involving massive deportation of so-called aliens spending at least $100 billions of taxpayers’ money, it will cost $750 billion before the end of his term. He is talking of a third term even.
Trump promised he will get rid of all the aliens in the country, end the Ukraine war, bring peace to the middle east and make America great again, all on day one of is presidency. Did he? No, that was just election rhetoric.
But he did make a public demonstration of it through mass deportations playing on reality TV with ICE agents swooping down on undocumented workers, especially with those allegedly having criminal records and notorious gangs in Venezuela, some innocents were deported, never mind, collateral damage is always there when you pursue upfront. He angered the world with his Liberation Day tariffs when he sought to impose steep tariffs across 160 countries of the world singling out some 20 countries for excessive trade barriers and protectionism, countries that were living off the prosperity of the USA for years unchecked and deserved to enter into a Pay Back time.
All this theatrics and rhetoric from the former Reality TV star who is the master of the Art of the Deal went down well with his supporters even if groceries went through the roof, eggs touched a $9 price tag against the normal $2 to 3 earlier, supporters were willing to swallow all this for the greater good of Make America Great Again. But the nation now stands divided. Those for and those against his aggressive policies, are vertically split and that continues to intensify.
Decisions such as executive orders go under the name of emergency powers of the presidency which seem to be unbridled that even the highest courts of the land cannot reign in, thanks to some judges appointed by him who sometimes err on the side of partiality to keep their jobs on a payback time.
The question that arises now is: How popular is Trump domestically and overseas. Many research institutions, academic bodies and news organizations have undertaken to gauge the index of his popularity.
Compare Trump’s 1st term with his 2nd term. A wealthy businessman fed up with the red tape and the heavy bureaucracy of Washington DC came with a mission to clean it up. But he was single handed at that time. A lot of his decisions were either blocked or not allowed to see the light of the day by the cabinet picks as they were seasoned bureaucrats who are experienced in the art of the deal, which means delays or blocking legislations.
It was the bureaucracy’s collective wisdom that blocked both good and bad legislations, at the same time. Trump’s second term ended this as his cabinet picks were less of bureaucrats but billionaires, career professionals, who could be loyal to him and who thought outside the box to deal with the nation’s problems.
Despite all the dramatic and theatrical removal of aliens from the promised land of dreams, he has touched only a fraction, a tip of the iceberg, but has also angered many certified Americans of Latino, African, Asian origins who have all contributed to the prosperity of the nation through taxes.
Estimates by various official agencies suggest 14 million illegal immigrants, meaning residents without proper documentation holding onto lucrative jobs, paying taxes, owning homes. It will cost at least $1,000 billions of taxpayers’ money to evict them all, which courts will not allow. Where is the money? But with his tax cuts, that put a hole in the government’s wallet.
Predecessor Biden sought to end this nightmare by regularizing their stay at least for those contributing to the prosperity of the nation. It was overruled by Trump after his in in 2024 polls.
Trump promised to end budget deficits, curb government expenditure, raise revenues by saying Drill Baby Drill, instead he went on the war path on Liberation Day tariffs attacking 160 countries which he thought were feeding off America. He singled out China, India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Canada, Mexico, and countries in Western Europe.
It was a trade war which he said he did not actually mean to implement but use it as a bargaining chip to achieve new trade deals with countries and usher in a new economic and global trade order in favour of America. He did make a breakthrough with China setting tariffs at 55%, down from the historic apex of 135%, and 10% for all US goods, down from the again historic peak of 125%. . After his deal with China, Trump is hoping to have a deal with 27 member EU in favourable terms.
As regards bureaucracy, he opted for a new path appointing TV hosts and billionaires in key positions who had practically no experience for their jobs. Pete Hegseth as defense secretary was a TV host. He has no idea what Pentagon looked like. At least Scott Bessent had some idea of finance as the Treasury Secretary being the former governor of the Reserve Bank of England. Tom Homan as the border Czar, Kristi Noem as head of Homeland Security, Kash Patel as head of the FBI, Elon Musk at Doge chief, (now he has fallen out), Marco Rubio, foreign policy advocate, he has some experience, to head the state department, and Pam Bondi, attorney general, she has legal expertise to boast off.
An eclectic mix of popularity and of experience and showmanship – but they all have one thing in common unlike his first term – they are all loyal to Trump and obey his orders. Good or Bad, they obey as in the military hierarchy. After all, Trump is the Commander in Chief.
Now where does all this take Trump with his popularity overseas and domestically especially with the recent anti-immigration riots and standoff with the charismatic California governor Gavin Newsom who has exploited the situation to beat his rivals and position himself as the champion of human rights and for the democratic candidacy for presidency in 2028.
Let’s take the poll surveys one by one; New Pew Research Center polling shows especially big drops in favourable opinions of the U.S. in neighbouring Mexico and Canada and in NATO allies, including Poland and Sweden. Tourism to the US has dropped and the inflow of traffic revenues are now going to European countries and exotic destinations in the South East and South Asia regions.
The U.S. citizens’ confidence in its leader to handle world affairs has taken a dive in more than a dozen countries over the last year, according to a poll from the Pew Research Center released Wednesday and conducted over the first few months of President Donald Trump’s second term.
Some 150 days later, Trump is bumbling instead of bubbling with his foreign and domestic policies. His predecessor Joe Biden, bitten by age related problems made no promise of Making America Great Again and instead bumbled his way through blistering barnacles leaving a so-called shattered economy that saw the democrats out of power.
These declines are most pronounced among residents in neighbouring Mexico and Canada, which have been at the center of high-profile spats with the administration, as well as a handful of NATO countries (like Sweden, Poland and the Netherlands) amid Russia’s war with Ukraine.
Public sentiment about the U.S. has gone up in a few countries over the last year, most notably in Israel. But most of the two-dozen countries surveyed saw public opinion about the U.S. dip as Trump began his second term.
Overall, the poll shows an international community full of increased skepticism of Trump and his “America First” foreign policies, from his administration’s antagonistic relationship with traditional close allies to its focus on tariffs to its friendly posture toward right-wing, populist movements that have been amassing more power in Europe.
Negative perception of Trump has been fuelled by his mass deportations done in an inhumane way by ICE and worst of all Tariffs and Trade Wars he mounted on every possible ally. Yet while the results in many countries are negative, Trump’s marks are broadly higher this year in these nations than they were during the beginning of his first term eight years ago.
Fifteen countries have seen significant drops in their opinion of America over the last year. In Mexico, 61% of respondents had a favourable opinion of the U.S. in 2024, but just 29% feel that way this year.
In Sweden, which joined NATO in 2024 following the Russian invasion of Ukraine two years prior, a 47% favourable rating of the U.S. last year plummeted to just 19% this year, with 79% of Swedish respondents viewing America unfavourably.
And in Canada, a 54% favourability mark in 2024 dropped 20 points in 2025, to 34%, amid Trump’s repeated threats to make the country America’s newest state. America’s biggest exports Jack Daniels bourbon whiskey and Coke, the globally famous fizzy drink, with little nutritive value, disappeared off the shelves of Canada to be replaced with Cranberry juice mixed with sparkling water. These stocks will be diverted to India now under lower tariffs being negotiated along with luxury brands.
On the other end of the spectrum, the share of people in Turkey, Nigeria and Israel who rated the U.S. favorably increased significantly over the last year.
Pew polled 28,333 adults across 24 countries mostly over the phone or in person (Australia was the only country where people were polled online). The survey was in the field for various times across different countries from Jan. 8 to April 26. Polling in every country except Indonesia began after Trump’s inauguration, but it was either concluded or close to done by Trump’s April 2 announcement of sweeping international tariffs.
When it comes to Trump specifically, a majority of respondents in five countries of the 24 surveyed said they have a lot or some confidence in the president to do the right thing when it comes to world affairs: Hungary, India, Israel, Nigeria and Kenya.
Majorities in nine of the 10 European countries tested have either not too much or no confidence in Trump at all, with at least three-quarters of respondents saying so in the Netherlands, France, Spain, Germany and Sweden. .Trump is losing his standing in most of his trading partner countries, but his popularity does not diminish among his MAGA base in America, it is on the rise (IPA Service)
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