In the last days of the 2016 US election campaign, the leader of the European Union, Donald Tusk, could no longer restrain himself: one Donald is more than enough! he wrote on Twitter. Trump’s election less than a week later made for an uneasy start to what turned out to be four difficult years of transatlantic relations.

With Trump becoming the first former president to face federal charges that could land him in jail, many Europeans are keeping a close eye on the matter. But almost no world leader has spoken recently about the man leading the race for the Republican party nomination.

NATO Chief Jens Stoltenberg, who

m

Foreign Policy Magazine named Diplomat of the Year in 2019 for helping the alliance navigate an uncertain future during the Trump years. Crown.

It’s not that the global audience isn’t interested. Trump’s court appearance made headlines and featured prominently on evening news reports across much of Europe.

Even in New Zealand, most look at the Trump circus with the same sense of horror and fascination that marked his last days in office “in early 2021 when the US Capitol was attacked, said David Capie, a professor of international relations at Victoria University of Wellington .

Few European leaders would welcome Trump’s reelection. His policies on climate, trade and security clashed with European interests and sensibilities, with many fearing he might withdraw strong US support for the war in Ukraine.

“We can thank Mr. Putin.” NATO welcomes Finland as Russia’s war against Ukraine backfires

The whole world has the same concern. We hope the US election restores some rationality,

said

Jos Pio Borges, president of the think tank of the Brazilian Center for International Relations

,

said Tuesday. Not that we have much credit for Biden, but it doesn’t compare.

In other parts of the world where the US feels further away, such as China and India, the process passed with much less attention.

And then a minority of world leaders openly applaud Trump’s comeback. In Hungary, Prime Minister Viktor Orban endorsed Trump in 2016, saying the war in Ukraine would not happen if Trump was still president. In a speech last month, he shouted: Come back, Mr. President! Make America great again and bring us peace!

The nature of the allegations against the Trump trial is now also of interest to Allied leaders. Prosecutors allege he was reckless with classified information, including secrets shared by or about intelligence partners.

If Donald Trump is elected president, there will definitely be certain governments that will be concerned, said Leslie Vinjamuri, director of the US and America program at London-based think tank Chatham House. She added that the current case was very clear evidence, you know, of his willingness to play fast and loose with classified and top secret documents.

With NATO allies and as far as Australia and New Zealand, the United States has a dense network of military security cooperation agreements in which secrecy, due diligence and trust in the exchange of sensitive information are essential.

On his first visit during the war, the NATO chief tells Ukraine it is part of the alliance

The indictment alleges Trump deliberately kept hundreds of classified documents after leaving office in January 2021, then stored them in cardboard boxes in locations such as a bathroom, ballroom and bedroom. The documents contained information about nuclear programs, defense and weapons capabilities of the US and foreign governments, and a Pentagon plan of attack, prosecutors wrote.

It’s so far beyond the imagination of most people who work in intelligence that it really, you know, makes you laugh. But it’s obviously very serious, very serious, Vinjamuri told the AP.

Governments themselves have shied away from officially addressing such sensitive issues, but it is clear that most US allies, especially in Europe, have embraced Biden as their best hope to revive old alliances and build cooperation to to contain climate change.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has created Europe’s biggest crisis in decades, and many European countries have stood shoulder to shoulder with Biden in their confrontation with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin administering one sanction after another.

The war has even prompted reassessments in some countries that once leaned toward Trump’s view of the world.

Opinion: Now that it is a member of NATO, can Finland help Ukraine?

In Poland, the nationalist conservative government made no secret of its admiration for Trump when he was elected, agreeing with him on issues such as opposition to large-scale migration, especially by Muslims. In 2017, Poland’s conservative president Andrzej Duda said that if the US set up a base in Poland it would be called Fort Trump, and Duda was later one of the last world leaders to congratulate Biden on his election victory.

But Duda and others are grateful to Biden for the assurances to Poland and his two visits to Warsaw since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

Ukraine itself has received vital assistance from the Biden administration, but has shown no interest in commenting on Biden’s political rival. President Volodymyr Zelensky

j

tried not to take sides during Trump’s initial impeachment trial despite playing a central role in it, just as he welcomed China’s peace plan for the conflict despite widespread perceptions that it favors Moscow.

But this time, European leaders are keeping their views on Trump to themselves.

One of the most interesting questions here in the UK, across Europe and elsewhere is: what are Europeans doing to prepare for the possibility of Donald Trump returning to the White House? And I think the reality is there isn’t much at the moment,” Vinjamuri said.

Donald Tusk is now a candidate to lead Poland after the autumn elections. The last thing he would want as Prime Minister is to argue with a Donald again.

AP writers from around the world contributed.