WASHINGTON, June 2. /TASS/. The international image of the United States has taken a hit since President Donald Trump returned to the White House and imposed import duties on many of the world’s countries, while global sentiment towards China has reached a five-year high, the Axios website writes, citing a Morning Consult survey.
The company conducts daily polls involving 5,000 people across 41 countries, including Brazil, Russia, Germany, France, the UK, Japan, and South Korea. Over the past year and a half, attitudes toward the US improved, following Trump’s election victory, but have steadily declined since his inauguration.
The rating reflects the difference between the shares of respondents with positive and negative views, meaning a negative rating indicates that most respondents hold an unfavorable opinion of a country.
By May, the US rating went into the negative. It briefly stabilized after Washington and Beijing agreed to lift some mutual duties and hold talks, but following Trump’s recent accusations that China violated the deal, it slid back into negative territory. Meanwhile, China’s rating has steadily improved since July 2024, turning positive in January for the first time in five years and reaching 8.8 points by May 30, compared to the US’s -1.5.
"Since January 2025, the overwhelming majority of countries simultaneously exhibit worsening views of the United States and improving views of China. Only in Russia have views of America meaningfully improved. <…> As views of the United States worsen, trade and investment opportunities for American firms doing business overseas may also diminish as consumers shun the products and job opportunities they provide," said analyst Jason McMunn.
Axios notes that China’s rating, negative since October 2020, improved most sharply after Trump imposed duties on imports from most countries on March 2, a move he called "liberation day." "The reputational damage done by the 'Liberation Day' tariff announcements has now sealed the deal [to deteriorate global attitude towards the US]," the portal quoted a Morning Consult report as saying.