Leaders and officials around the world were both shocked and hopeful after Donald Trump surged to victory over Hillary Clinton in the U.S. presidential election last month, according to Time.
Many leaders offered their congratulations, hopes for a bright future and well-wishes to the President-elect.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said, “ [I] look forward to working with [Trump] to uphold the principles of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation,” according to Fortune.
Enrique Peña Nieto, president of Mexico, tweeted his congratulations, “I am confident that Mexico and the United States will continue to tighten its ties of cooperation and mutual respect,” he wrote.
Isaac Tamez-Salazar, a Walton Scholar from Nuevo Leon, Mexico, was very surprised by the outcome of the election because he thought Trump would never win. He said that after Trump was elected, he felt “confusion and fear for what the future would hold for both Mexico and the U.S.” He added that as Christians we should be engaged and informed, and that we should pray, and not only for our own countries.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated, “President-elect Trump is a true friend of the State of Israel. I look forward to working with him to advance security, stability and peace in our region,” reported Time.
The United Kingdom’s Prime Minister Theresa May said of U.K.-America relations, “We are, and will remain strong and close partners on trade, security and defense,” according to Time.
According to CNN, Russian president Vladimir Putin said “Russia is ready and wants to restore the fully-fledged relations with the U.S.”
Timothy Mitskevich, accounting and international business major from Moscow, Russia, thinks that it’s likely that the U.S. and Russia will have a more amicable relationship with Trump in office. He said he hopes this will affect U.S.-Russia relations in a positive way because “Putin wanted Trump to win obviously, and he did and the day Trump won he made a speech saying that he’s hoping to have a good relationship with America once again. That’s what I’m hoping, and I know it’s not gonna happen immediately, but hopefully, eventually, the relationship will be good again.”
Trump said in his victory speech, “I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans.”
“Right now,” Tamez-Salazar said, “my hope is that as soon as he enters in power he will realize the importance of his role and that many of these people he promised to deport do contribute to American society.”
Jessica Jansma, a family and human services major from Brazil, said that her heart hurts for those people whose lives will be drastically affected by Trump’s election.
“But I think that no change will come from having a spirit of fear and I think that ultimately the responsibility is with the church,” she said. “So even if our president doesn’t show love towards a lot of different people, even if he isn’t a person of integrity I think that the responsibly is on the church to show love to people.”