Governments from Asia to Europe reacted with stunned disbelief today to the victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential election, while populists hailed the result as a triumph of the people over a failed political establishment.
Modi congratulates Trump on election, wants to take India-US ties to new height
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today extended congratulations to the Republican candidate Donald Trump on his election as the 45th US President saying he hoped to work with him to take India-US bilateral ties to a new height. In a congratulatory message to Mr Trump, Mr Modi expressed appreciation of the friendship the US Presidential candidate had articulated towards India during his campaign. ''We look forward to working with you closely to take India-US bilateral ties to a new height,'' he tweeted.
Pranab hopes Trump's win ushers in new era in India-US ties
President Pranab Mukherjee today hoped that the election of Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump would usher in a ''new era in growing India-US partnership''. In a message, Mr Mukherjee congratulated Mr Trump as the 45th President of the United States. ''Hope your Presidency will usher in new era in growing India-US partnership,'' he tweeted.
Putin says Russia ready to fully restore ties with US
Russian President Vladimir Putin said today Russia was ready to fully restore relations with the United States following the election of businessman Donald Trump as the new US president. Receiving credentials from new foreign ambassadors to Russia, Putin said he had heard Trump's campaign statements about improving ties with Moscow. He said Russia was ready do its part to achieve this, but recognised it would not be easy. Improved relations would benefit both Russia and the United States, he added.
Turkey's Erdogan says hopes Trump election will benefit Middle East
Istanbul: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said today he hoped the US election victory of Donald Trump would lead to positive steps for the Middle East and for basic rights and freedoms in the world. "I hope that this choice of the American people will lead to beneficial steps being taken for the world concerning basic rights and freedoms, democracy and developments in our region," Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul.
Must accept Trump, win but not what most Germans wanted-German Foreign Min
Berlin: Germany's foreign minister said today that US Republican Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election was not what most Germans had wanted and added that Washington's foreign policy would no longer be as foreseeable as it has been. "The result is not to be underestimated. The result is different from what most people in Germany desired. But of course we have to accept it,"
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said. "In the course of the election campaign Donald Trump has found critical words about Europe and Germany. We must adjust to the fact that American foreign policy will get less predictable in the near future," he added.
Iran says Trump should stay committed to the nuclear deal
Beirut: US President-elect Donald Trump should stay committed to the international nuclear deal with Iran, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency today. "The United States should fulfil its commitments in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (the nuclear deal) as a multilateral international agreement," Zarif was quoted as saying while on a visit to Romania.
Scottish leader says Trump win brings "real sense of anxiety" for many
Edinburgh:Scotland's First Minister Nicola Sturgeon congratulated Donald Trump on winning the US presidential election today but said many would feel anxious about his victory. "It is normal in any election for those on the losing side to feel disappointment, but today, many in America and across the world, will also feel a real sense of anxiety," Sturgeon said in statement. Trump, whose mother was Scottish, owns two golf courses on the west and east coasts of Scotland.
He has made much of his Scottish roots, telling a Scottish newspaper earlier this year that just as he had won over Scotland, where he faced fierce local resistance to some of his development plans, he would win over the United States. Sturgeon has long been vocal on her distaste for Trump and endorsed his opponent Hillary Clinton as recently yesterday. "While this is not the outcome I hoped for, it is the verdict of the American people and we must respect it. I congratulate president-elect Trump on winning the election," she said.
Austria's far- right Freedom Party Congratulates Trump
Vienna: Austrian far-right leader Heinz-Christian Strache congratulated Donald Trump on his victory in the US presidential elections today. "The political left as well as the aloof and sleazy establishment are being punished by voters and voted out of various decision-making positions," the head of the populist Freedom Party (FPO) said on Facebook.
The FPO hopes for its own candidate Norbert Hofer to become the European Union's first far-right head of state on Dec. 4. Hofer, 45, an anti-immigrant EU critic hopes to succeed former Green Party leader Alexander Van der Bellen in a re-run of an annulled May election
Renzi congratulates Trump, says Italy friendship with US solid
Rome: Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who had openly supported Hillary Clinton, congratulated Donald Trump on his victory in the US presidential elections and said Italy's ties with the United States remained strong. "I wish him well. The Italo-American friendship is solid," Renzi said at the start of a speech in Rome. Renzi was one of the few world leaders to endorse Clinton and opposition politicians were swift to condemn him today, saying that by doing so, he had weakened Rome's international standing.
Athens: Greece's far-right Golden Dawn party hailed Donald Trump's election as president of the United States, calling it a victory against "illegal immigration" and in favour of ethnically "clean" nations. Golden Dawn, Greece's third-largest party, took its first seats in parliament in 2012 on a backlash against austerity policies in Greece, which has received three international bailouts since 2010.
"This was a victory for the forces which oppose globalisation, are fighting illegal migration and are in favour of clean ethnic states, in favour of self-sufficiency in the national economy," a spokesman of the party said in a post on YouTube. "A great global change is starting, which will continue with nationalists prevailing in Austria, Marie LePen in France and Golden Dawn in Greece."
Trump victory may create new tension between US and Islam -Indonesia clerical body
Jakarta: Donald Trump's US election victory may create fresh tension between the United States and the Islamic world, an official at Indonesia's top Muslim clerical body said today. Trump, who once proposed a ban on Muslims entering the United States, stunned the world by defeating heavily favoured Hillary Clinton in the presidential race, ending eight years of Democratic rule. Trump had made "negative, cynical" comments about Muslims in the past, Din Syamsuddin, a senior official at the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI), told reporters in Jakarta. "He had forgotten that many Americans are immigrants." Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population.
Backs against the wall: Trump victory casts pall over Mexico
Mexico City: Mexico was pitched into deep uncertainty by Donald Trump's US election victory after a bitterly divisive campaign, raising the prospect of major clashes over trade, immigration and security. The peso currency suffered its biggest fall in 22 years on fears Trump will stick to a campaign pledge to rewrite or dump a free trade treaty he says is loaded in Mexico's favor. Investors worry a trade fight could tip Mexico's economy into recession. The Republican candidate has threatened to deport millions of undocumented Mexican migrants, many of whom he described as rapists and drug runners, and to keep others out by building a massive border wall he says Mexico will pay for.
Watching in homes and bars around the country as the New York real estate tycoon extended his lead over Democrat Hillary Clinton in one US state after another, many Mexicans were gripped by disbelief and fear. "We have to start saving for that wall," said Rafael Garnica, a 29-year-old Mexico City technology entrepreneur. "It's not just Trump that frightens me, it's that he represents a huge amount of people in the United States." On Twitter, some Mexicans urged their government to seek dialogue with Trump, while others said they feared a rupture of ties with the United States. "Trump's victory is the antithesis of the fall of the Berlin Wall," tweeted Fernando Belaunzaran, a politician for the center-left Party of the Democratic Revolution.
Trump has proposed blocking billions of dollars in remittances sent home by Mexicans working in the United States to make Mexico pay for his border wall. Pena Nieto, who likened Trump's rhetoric to that of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini, has dismissed the idea out of hand. On the campaign trail, Trump relentlessly attacked the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between Mexico, Canada and the United States as the "worst deal ever", vowing to scrap it if he cannot renegotiate it. NAFTA has been a cornerstone of Mexican economic policy since it took effect in 1994. Some business leaders say the US and Mexican economies are now so closely integrated it is impossible to take steps against one without damaging the other.
"We will be facing months of volatility and uncertainty while the new government in Washington takes office and we see whether Mr.Trump is able to make good on his unfortunate campaign promises and rhetoric," said Andres Rozental, a former Mexican deputy foreign minister. Mexican officials hope to diversify export markets to try to reduce the country's dependence on US consumers, and Pena Nieto said he would work with whoever the United States elected. He was pilloried at home for inviting Trump to Mexico in late August in an effort to create some leverage for his government in case the businessman won. Trump softened his tone on the brief stopover he made to meet Pena Nieto, telling a news conference it was important to keep manufacturing in North America and describing Mexican-Americans as "spectacular, hard-working people.
" But within hours of his departure, he and Pena Nieto got into a Twitter feud over who would pay for the wall. COOPERATION FEARS Under NAFTA, four out of every five dollars made by Mexican exporters has come from the United States, and bilateral trade is now worth about half a trillion dollars annually. Trump has threatened to levy tariffs of up to 35 per cent on Mexican-made goods, sparking fears of a massive hit to trade, especially in Mexico's northern border regions. The US president has the power to rescind NAFTA but policymakers on both sides of the border consulted by Reuters said Trump would come under heavy pressure from Congress and business leaders not to wreck trade. Still, Mexican officials say Trump's hard line on trade blurs with his radical stance on immigration.
"Trump's wall isn't just a message to Mexico about migrants. It's about imports too," said a senior Mexican government security official, speaking on condition of anonymity. Friction over trade could put bilateral cooperation over security, the fight against drug trafficking and curbing illegal migration under strain, which US and Mexican officials say has improved steadily under Pena Nieto and President Barack Obama. Mexico's ambassador to Washington, Carlos Sada, said at an event in Los Angeles last month that Trump had dealt a blow to the United States' image south of the border and stirred up historic resentment.
Alongside him, the US ambassador to Mexico, Roberta Jacobson, joked about how Trump's campaign had also made life difficult for US diplomats south of the border. "I thought about just hiding until November 9th," she said. "The overwhelming, universal reaction to the Trump visit itself, and even to a lot in the election campaign, has been 'What the ... fff ... you know?'" "But the more concerning response, the much deeper response has been: 'We're afraid it won't go back to normal after this.'"