How Trump is making China great again—and what it means for Europe
Think tank: European Council on Foreign Relations
Author(s): Timothy Garton Ash; Ivan Krastev; Mark Leonard
January 15, 2026
This report from UK think tank the ECFR provides a major new survey of global public opinion one year into Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
A year after Donald Trump’s return to the White House, a major new survey of global public opinion, including in the UK, suggests that his transactional “America First” approach is driving people closer to China, while America is feared less by its traditional adversaries. US allies—particularly in Europe—feel ever more distant from America. While the data predate Trump’s dramatic intervention in Venezuela, many of the trends identified in the report seem to prefigure it and may well be reinforced by this action.
