Trump victory sends shockwaves through Europe
LONDON -- Leaders from around the world have been congratulating President-elect Donald Trump, as they try to figure out what his victory means for America’s role in the world, and their own relations with Washington.
When Trump promised that voting day would be like Brexit “plus plus plus,” he wasn’t just predicting a surprise victory, but a chance to shake up the establishment. And CBS News correspondent Charlie D’Agata says the shockwaves are already being felt around the globe.
From Tokyo to London, the stunned world awoke to the results of a U.S. election more closely watched than any in modern history.
“I’m a bit lost for words,” one Londoner said on his way to work Wednesday. “I’ve been up since 4:30 actually, watching the election results. It’s not so much of a surprise after what happened with Brexit here, you know.”
Though America’s next commander-in-chief has bad-mouthed NATO, slamming allies for not ponying up their fair share, the NATO Secretary General was willing to let that slide.
“I look forward to working with him,” Jens Stoltenberg said. “Our alliance has brought together our closest friends for almost 70 years.”
Seventy years or not, European allies like French President Francois Hollande stood ready to call Trump out, saying “certain positions taken during the American campaign must be confronted.”
That, from a man who said Trump’s “excesses made him want to retch.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel -- who has come under blistering attacks over her immigration policies -- said Trump’s victory featured “confrontations that were difficult to bear.”
The bottom line seems to be that global leaders who were baffled by Trump’s statements during the campaign, now wonder whether that was just bluster, or a new direction in U.S. foreign policy.
As one German government minister put it, “the world won’t end, but it will get a whole lot crazier.”
