Donald Trump’s shocking rise to US presidency elicits global reactions

The victory of billionaire populist Donald J. Trump in the US presidential election is prompting responses from politicians worldwide, ranging from messages of congratulation to tacit expressions of discomfort.

Trump won more than 270 electoral votes in the 2016 presidential election on Wednesday, enough to make him the 45th president of the United States even as vote counting continued in a number of states.

His rise to the presidency wildly contrasted most forecasts within the United States, which had projected a strong win by his rival, Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

A former secretary of state and first lady, Clinton was one of the first people to congratulate Trump on Wednesday.

Iran reacts

Speaking during a visit to Romania on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the Islamic Republic expected the US president-elect to honor a nuclear deal negotiated with Iran under the outgoing US administration.

“It is our norm not to interfere in the domestic affairs of other countries,” Foreign Minister Zarif said, commenting on Trump’s win.

“Since Iran and the US have no political relations, what is important is that America’s next president is bound by the multilateral commitments of the JCPOA,” he said, referring to the nuclear deal. “We are certain the international community would expect the same thing from the United States of America.”
The agreement was struck between Iran on the one side and the US, France, China, Britain, Russia, and Germany on the other in June 2015.

Trump has previously slammed the deal, threatening that he would renegotiate its terms.

In practice, however, the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), runs little risk of being scrapped out of hand by any level-headed American government as it has been endorsed by a United Nations Security Council resolution, meaning that it has effectively become international law.

Zarif said the president of the US should “grasp the realities of the world today and connect his policies with those realities.”

Russia ‘hopes for joint work’

Separately, Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Trump in a message on Wednesday, the Kremlin said in a statement.

“Putin expressed hope for joint work to restore Russian-American relations from their state of crisis, and also to address pressing international issues and search for effective responses to challenges concerning global security,” according to the statement.

Outgoing US President Barack Obama has had cold relations with the Russian head of state. The two leaders differed over a number of issues, prominently the Ukrainian and Syrian crises.

However, during his presidential campaign, Trump had repeatedly praised Putin and voiced willingness to work with him.

‘Not what most Germans wanted’

Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said his country respected the outcome of the US presidential election even though it was not favored by most Germans.

“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,” Steinmeier said.
German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen also described Trump’s victory as a “huge shock,” saying the election result was “not a vote for him but rather against Washington, against the establishment.”

“It was a big shock when I saw the way things are heading,” she said.

Trump has previously upset the German leadership, strong believers in the military power of NATO, by saying that in the event of a military confrontation between Russian and a NATO member, he would consider whether the country had met its defense commitments before providing military aid.

Reacting to news of Trump’s win earlier in the day, a senior member of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party described the American president-elect as “the voice of anger.”

“We’re realizing now that we have no idea what this American president will do if the voice of anger enters office and the voice of anger becomes the most powerful man in the world,” said Norbert Roettgen, who is a member of Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the head of the German parliament’s foreign affairs committee.

France ‘concerned’ by Trump’s character

Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault of France also said Trump’s personality traits “raised concern.”

Ayrault said Trump had to clarify his position on key foreign policy issues, including the nuclear deal with Iran, the long-running conflict in Syria, and climate change.

Marine Le Pen, the French far-right National Front party leader, however, congratulated Trump “and… the free American people!”

Palestine ‘expects consistency’

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressed hope that peace “will be achieved” during Trump’s presidency, after congratulating his victory in the election.

Saeb Erekat, an aide to Abbas, said he did not expect a change in US policies over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict under Trump.

He said both Republican and Democratic parties in the US were committed to the so-called two-state solution for the conflict and that he though “this will not change with the coming administration.”

The Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, East al-Quds and the Gaza Strip, with East al-Quds as the capital. They are also demanding that Israel withdraw from the Palestinian lands occupied in a 1967 war.

Israel ‘must kill idea of Palestinian state’ under Trump

Meanwhile, an Israeli minister said that Tel Aviv should take the advantage of with Trump’s presidency and put an end to the idea of an independent Palestinian state.

“Trump’s victory is an opportunity for Israel to immediately retract the notion of a Palestinian state,” said extremist Education Minister Naftali Bennett.

“This is the position of the president-elect,” he claimed, adding, “The era of a Palestinian state is over.”

Turkey ‘hopes Mideast will benefit’

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he hoped the election of Trump would prove “beneficial” to the Middle East.

“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.

Turkey’s Justice Minister Bekiz Bozdag also expressed hope on Wednesday that “under the new presidential term, the Turkish-US relations will be much better. That is our expectation.”

Ankara has been dissatisfied with the outgoing US administration because of the latter’s refusal to extradite a Turkish opposition cleric based in the US back to Turkey. Fethullah Gullen, the cleric, is wanted by Ankara over the accusation that he masterminded a failed coup in Turkey back in July.