Donald Trump 's handling of thecoronavirus crisis has inflicted significant damage on European perceptions of the United States.- A major new survey of citizens in EU countries shows that almost 60% of respondents said their view of the US had worsened during the pandemic.
- A series of Trump interventions during the crisis have triggered shock and condemnation among many Europeans.
- European perceptions of the US have worsened far more than their opinion of China, where the government has been heavily criticised for hiding the extent of the outbreak when it began.
- The EU is set to impose a travel ban on Americans coming to the continent due to the rapid spread of cases in the US.
European perceptions of the United States have slumped in European countries that were previously regarded as being Washington's closest allies, thanks to Donald Trump's handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
That's the inevitable conclusion that can be drawn from a major new survey of citizens in EU countries, which found that almost 60% of those surveyed said their view of the US had worsened since the start of the pandemic.
By contrast, just 6% of respondents said their view of the US had improved.
The polling of over 11,000 people across nine European countries — Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden, was commissioned by the European Council of Foreign Relations.
It found that in some countries, the proportion of people whose perceptions had worsened was markedly higher than the average. In Germany, which has long been one of the United States' closest allies for decades, 65% of people said their perceptions of the country had worsened. In Portugal, the figure was 70%, while in Denmark it was 71%.
Donald Trump has received criticism from around the world for his response to the coronavirus pandemic in the US, where more than 120,000 Americans have died — more than any other country in the world — according to John Hopkins University.
The president has backed those states pushing to reopen the US economy, despite warnings that doing so too quickly will cause a second wave of coronavirus deaths.
Some of the states and cities in the US which have lifted lockdown measures quickly have seen a surge in new coronavirus cases and hospitalisations, prompting them to scale back reopening plans, according to the Washington Post.
Trump this week claimed that he had requested that his administration slow down testing so as to reduce the number of new cases being recorded. After his press secretary suggested he had been joking, Trump told a reporter on Tuesday: "I don't kid."
Strikingly, European perceptions of the US have worsened even more than those of China, where the outbreak originated, and where the government has been heavily criticised for concealing the extent of the outbreak when it began.
A total of 48% of those polled said their perception of China had worsened, compared to 40% who said it had stayed the same and 12% who said it had improved.
The findings come as the EU prepares to impose a new travel ban on Americans hoping to come to the continent due to the rapid spread of cases in the US.
The pandemic has continued to decline in European countries compared to the US.
—Michael McFaul (@McFaul) June 24, 2020
Europeans have been shocked by Trump's response to the crisis
The shift comes amid international shock about some of the interventions by President Donald Trump during the coronavirus pandemic.
The president's comments speculating that disinfectant might be used to treat coronavirus patients caused widespread disbelief and horror in many European countries.
"Over more than two centuries, the United States has stirred a very wide range of feelings in the rest of the world: love and hatred, fear and hope, envy and contempt, awe and anger," the Irish Times columnist Fintan O'Toole wrote in response to Trump's comments.
"But there is one emotion that has never been directed towards the US until now: pity."
Reports that Trump had attempted to buy exclusive rights to a coronavirus vaccine being developed in Germany also triggered anger on the continent.
Trump's behavior has highlighted already widespread negative feelings in