World leaders and governments shared a mixture of reactions to Donald Trump's victory over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
- French presidential candidate congratulates Trump, "free Americans"
- Cubans worry about reversal of normalization
- Australia, Japan re-affirm commitments to mutual security
Russian President Vladimir Putin, who figured so heavily in campaign attacks against Trump, sent him a telegram congratulating him on winning the election.
Marine Le Pen, a candidate in France's upcoming presidential elections, congratulated Trump on Twitter even before the final results were known.
Officials in France's current government were more guarded, however. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault affirmed that France would work with whoever was the victor, but also expressed concern about Trump and what his lead could mean to others around the world.
"We don't want a world where egoism triumphs," Ayrault said on France-2 television Wednesday.
Closer to the U.S., in Cuba, some listening to radio updates on the election in the early morning hours feared it would mean reversing the few gains the island has made since diplomatic relations began normalizing two years ago.
"The little we've advanced, if he reverses it, it hurts us,'' taxi driver Oriel Iglesias Garcia said. ``You know tourism will go down. If Donald Trump wins and turns everything back it's really bad for us.''
Pacific nations expressed a variety of messages, from guarded optimism regarding working with a Trump administration to outright optimism regarding renewed American leadership in the region.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop asserted her government's readiness to work with Trump. She said Australia wants to work constructively with the new administration to ensure a continued U.S. presence and position of leadership in the area.
In China, meanwhile, one blogger said he hoped for a Trump victory because "America has stagnated and Trump represents justice, rule of law and personal freedom." Chinese state media has cast the election in general as representative of the U.S.'s democracy in crisis, saying "the majority of Americans are rebelling against the U.S.'s political class and financial elites."
In Japan, officials in the Prime Minister's office acknowledged that Minister Shinzo Abe had been following the election's returns. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga reaffirmed his nation's commitment to the current U.S.-Japan security alliance, saying that the alliance between the two nations would remain a cornerstone of diplomacy between Tokyo and Washington.
International financial markets and currencies plummeted as news of a Trump victory became more certain. In Mexico, the peso fell sharply against the U.S. dollar as the first returns came in. Stock markets in Japan, Hong Kong, and South Korea all slumped Wednesday, as Trump's hardline stance on trade seemed closer to being a reality Asian markets would have to deal with.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.