CAN’T BE TRUSTED

Trump Drives Staggering Spike in People Viewing the U.S. as a Threat

Canadians are now much more likely to regard the U.S. as a threat to their country’s security.

The president’s reckless approach to international relations has driven away America’s traditional partners, which increasingly see the U.S. as a threat, according to a new poll.

The survey, conducted by consultants Kekst CNC for the Munich Security Index and published on Tuesday, revealed that in G7 nations, as well as in Brazil, India, China, and South Africa, the net number of people who see the United States as an ally declined. The polling was conducted in November, before President Donald Trump launched his attack on Venezuela or threatened military force in a bid to seize Greenland from Denmark, a NATO ally.

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The survey was released ahead of the Munich Security Conference on Friday. The event—which will notably not include Trump or Vice President JD Vance—dubs itself as the world’s leading forum for debating international security policy.

Kekst CNC surveyed 11,099 people in G7 nations—which, excluding the U.S., includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom—and in Brazil, India, China, and South Africa. Among all the nations polled, Canadians reported the greatest increase in perceived threat from the U.S.

Trump’s repeated taunting of Canada as America’s “51st State,” and subsequent punitive tariffs, informed the most dramatic shift. As measured by the index, which is expressed in trends rather than percentages, Canadians are now almost as likely as Chinese respondents to regard the U.S. as a threat to their country’s security.

In many emerging markets, aggressive U.S. trade policy and confrontational rhetoric appear to have eroded long-standing confidence.

In Europe, anxiety over U.S. foreign policy has been compounded by Trump’s attempt to force allies to concede control of the mineral rich Artic island of Greenland, he says, for “security reasons,” and his threat to punish opposition with tariffs.

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The White House said it would impose an additional 10 percent tariff on goods from Denmark, Sweden, Norway, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and Finland starting Feb. 1, an amount that could rise to 25 percent by June unless a deal is reached for a “complete and total purchase of Greenland.” Trump has since cooled on his Greenland rhetoric, but it often re-emerges in fits and starts, creating a sense of anxiety.

Indeed, a new survey from Politico’s polling partner Public First found pretty much the same thing. It surveyed 10,000 people across four allied nations: the U.K., Canada, Germany, and France, where a majority of people viewed the U.S. as an unreliable ally, rather than one their nations could count on.

This included half the adults polled in Germany and 57 percent in Canada.

Officials visiting the Munich Security Conference in Germany this week were preparing for further displays of U.S. antagonism, though nerves were somewhat eased by the absence of both Trump and Vice President JD Vance. “I hope it’s boring,” one European foreign minister told the Financial Times ahead of the conference.

Notably, however, Britons remain the most positive about America among the nations surveyed, providing a rare outlier in the broader trend of declining U.S. favorability.

Trump did damage to the country’s image in Europe with his Greenland threats. YouGov European tracker data, monitoring attitudes in Britain, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain from Jan. 9 to 27, showed that perceptions of the U.S. are the worst they have been since YouGov started tracking in 2016.

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Unsurprisingly, opinion was most negative in Denmark, where 84 percent of Danes now have an unfavourable view of the U.S. That figure is up from 70 percent in November 2025. During President Joe Biden’s term, the average was 36 percent.

In response to the dire polling, White House Spokesperson Anna Kelly told the Daily Beast: “President Trump has made America strong again, and the results speak for themselves. He has ended eight wars, secured a five percent defense spending pledge, negotiated fairer trade deals, and more.”

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