When Joe Biden was announced as the presumed winner of the 2020 presidential elections on Saturday, it wasn’t only the United States watching.
Following a grueling months-long election across a bitterly divided country, over 148 million people cast their ballot in the presidential elections, the biggest voter turnout in U.S. election history.
Biden’s win, which will not be officially certified until after the Electoral College voters meet in December, has been dampened by President Trump’s refusal to concede the election. Backed by Republican allies in Congress as well as Attorney General William Barr, Trump is instead mounting numerous legal battles aimed at stopping or questioning the vote count in several key swing states.
The world at large appears similarly divided as to the results of the United States’ presidential elections -- and the chasm is perhaps most stark in the list of world leaders who either have or have not publicly offered their congratulations to Biden for his presumed win.
Trump is deeply unpopular among many world leaders because of his “America first” attitude, which led his administration to pull out of the Paris Climate Accord, refuse to participate in World Health Organization efforts to create an effective coronavirus vaccine, as well as into a protracted clash with China over trade. Trump’s presidency was also notable for his close ties with dictators like Kim Jong-Un of North Korea.
Only a small number of major nations – China being one of them – have yet to issue statements on the election, and their reasoning varies widely.
On Tuesday, the president-elect said he has personally spoken with the leaders of at least six countries including Ireland, Germany, Great Britain, France, and Canada. He still has “a number of other calls” from world leaders to return, Biden added.
Biden’s message for the leaders he has spoken with so far was a clear one: “I’m letting them know America’s back.”
“I said when we announced that the next president is going to inherit a divided country and a world in disarray. The reception and welcome we've gotten around the world from our allies and our friends have been real,” Biden said, adding: “I feel confident that we're going to be able to put American back in a place of respect that it had before.”
Here is a list of world leaders who have congratulated Biden so far:
Canada’s Prime Minister was one of the first to congratulate Biden and his running mate, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, on their electoral win.
“Our two countries are close friends, partners, and allies. We share a relationship that’s unique on the world stage,” Trudeau tweeted on Saturday. “I’m really looking forward to working together and building on that with you both.”
On Monday, the prime minister’s office said Trudeau was the first international leader to speak with Biden since U.S. news media determined he won the election. His office said they talked about a number of issues including the coronavirus pandemic, climate change and the detained Canadians.
“I am extremely confident that the incoming administration will continue to be a good partner to Canada and other nations around the world as we look to impress upon China that the approach they are taking is simply not working,” Trudeau said of his conversation with Biden during a press conference.
French President Emmanual Macron similarly congratulated Biden following his projected victory on Saturday, tweeting that “The Americans have chosen their President.”
“We have a lot to do to overcome today’s challenges. Let's work together!” Macron added.
Macron and Biden subsequently spoke on the phone on Tuesday, where the president-elect “expressed his desire to strengthen relations between the United States and France, its oldest ally,” per a statement from the Biden/Harris transition team.
“The President-elect conveyed his interest in reinvigorating bilateral and trans-Atlantic ties, including through NATO and the EU,” the statement continued. “They discussed cooperating on a range of shared interests, such as containing COVID-19 and building global health security; tackling the threat of climate change; strengthening human rights, and laying the foundations for a sustainable global economic recovery.”
In his own statement following their meeting, Macron said: “We’ll have a lot to do together to promote shared priorities - climate, global health, international security - and effective multilateral action.”
The German Chancellor originally wished Biden congratulations on his victory via a spokesperson, saying: “Congratulations! The American citizens have decided. Joe Biden becomes the 46th President of the United States of America. I wish him luck and success from the bottom of my heart.”
During their own phone call on Tuesday, Biden “expressed gratitude to Chancellor Merkel for her congratulations, praised her leadership, and noted that he looked forward to strengthening relations between the United States and Germany and revitalizing the trans-Atlantic relationship, including through NATO and the EU,” according to his transition team.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who enjoyed a mostly friendly relationship with sitting President Donald Trump, nonetheless offered Biden and Harris his congratulations in a statement on Twitter.
“Congratulations to Joe Biden on his election as President of the United States and to Kamala Harris on her historic achievement,” Johnson wrote. “The U.S. is our most important ally and I look forward to working closely together on our shared priorities, from climate change to trade and security.”
Following a phone call between the two on Tuesday, Boris named many of the same “shared priorities” as other European leaders, from “tackling climate change, to promoting democracy and building back better from the pandemic.”
Biden’s own press release following Tuesday’s call said the two specifically focused on the issue of climate change.
“(Biden) noted that he especially looks forward to working closely together on global challenges as the United Kingdom prepares to host the 2021 G-7 and the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26),” the statement read in part.
Ireland’s Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Micheál Martin offered an enthusiastic endorsement of Biden and Harris on Saturday.
“I want to congratulate the new President Elect of the USA,” Martin tweeted. “Joe Biden has been a true friend of this nation throughout his life and I look forward to working with him in the years ahead.”
Martin added that he is looking forward to “welcoming him (Biden) back home” once travel restrictions are lifted, a nod to Biden’s Irish ancestry.
Martin was also among the European leaders who spoke via telephone with Biden on Monday, another conversation where the topic of climate change loomed large. Martin noted that the two leaders discussed the Paris Climate Accord, which Biden has pledged to rejoin, as well as the World Health Organization.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, sometimes dubbed “the Trump of the Tropics” for his populist, off-the-cuff style, has kept silent on Trump’s loss.
Bolsonaro and his sons — who like Trump’s children play a role on the political scene — seem to be actively uncomfortable with the outcome of the U.S. race. Bolsonaro, who previously expressed hope for Trump’s reelection and whose son wore hats with the logo “Trump 2020,” has kept largely silent this week, but his sons haven’t.
Congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro posted images on social media questioning how Biden’s votes were rising so quickly in later counts, while Trump’s weren’t. The younger Bolsonaro also questioned networks’ decision to cut away from Trump’s speech on Wednesday alleging vote fraud, calling it an attack on freedom of speech.
A senior official of the Brazilian Embassy in the United States, who cannot identify himself for fear of reprisals, said Brazilian officials fear that loose talk by Bolsonaro or his sons could destabilize relations between countries.
Officials in the office of the presidency, who were not authorized to speak on the record, said Bolsonaro has been adopting a more pragmatic tone, at least since Wednesday, following the guidance of his advisers.
At the beginning of the week, some of the more ideological elements in Bolsonaro’s office believed in a Trump victory, but since then, the diplomatic staff has made contact with Biden’s campaign.
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador refused to congratulate Biden at this point, saying he would wait until the legal challenges over the vote were resolved.
López Obrador’s cordial relationship with Trump was often seen as unusual for a left-leaning politician, but it had a workmanlike basis.
In part, that is political realism: In 2019, Trump threatened to apply crippling tariffs on Mexican products unless López Obrador cracked down on Central American migrants crossing Mexico to reach the U.S. border. Mexico complied, rounding up migrants and busing them back to their home countries.
But there were also moments of seeming real friendship between the two. On Saturday, López Obrador was one of the few world leaders still willing to heap praise on Trump.
“President Trump has been very respectful of us, and we have reached very good agreements, and we thank him because he has not interfered and has respected us,” López Obrador said.
And López Obrador angered many at home and in the U.S. Democratic Party when he made his first — and so far only — trip abroad as president over the summer to meet with Trump to celebrate the enactment of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada free trade agreement, which both leaders viewed as fixing problems with the old North American Free Trade Agreement of the 1990s.
López Obrador didn’t meet with Biden or his campaign team during that trip, and the wounds are still apparently there, even though the Mexican president said he knows Biden and had “very good relations” with him.
China has had a fractious relationship with President Donald Trump, characterized by growing friction over trade, technology and competition for influence in Asia and the world.
Analysts say Biden will likely return ties to a less contentious state, although Beijing has stuck throughout the election to a position of not commenting directly on what it says is an internal American political issue.
“I noticed that Mr. Biden has declared victory of the election,” Wang told reporters at a daily briefing. “We understand that the presidential election result will be determined following U.S. laws and procedures.”
China will “follow the international practices” regarding a statement on the result, Wang said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin won’t congratulate President-elect Joe Biden until legal challenges to the U.S. election are resolved and the result is official, the Kremlin announced Monday.
When Trump won in 2016, Putin was prompt in offering congratulations — but Trump’s challenger in that election, Hillary Clinton, also conceded the day after the vote.
Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Monday that this year is different.
“Obviously, you can see that certain legal procedures are coming there, which were announced by the incumbent president — therefore this situation is different, so we consider it correct to wait for the official announcement,” he said.
Peskov suggested that when the time comes, a congratulatory message from Putin would come with all the expected protocol.
“I remind you that Vladimir Putin said more than once that he will respect any choice of American people, and will be ready to work with any chosen president of the United States,” he said.
For now, Putin’s holding back allows a delay in addressing that fraught question of how to improve relations. Although Russian politicians widely lauded Trump’s election in 2016, expecting him to make good on his promises of improving ties, his administration disappointed Moscow by enacting sanctions, expelling scores of Russian diplomats in the wake of the poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal in the U.K., and authorizing lethal weapons sales to Ukraine.
But Russia is characteristically wary of Democratic U.S. administrations because they tend to be more forward about criticizing Russia on human rights and democracy issues.
Omar Celik, a spokesman for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling party, said Ankara also was waiting for the various legal challenges to be settled before congratulating “the winner.”
“Turkey will congratulate the winner as soon as the results of the election will become official as part of the respect it has for the U.S. people and democracy,” Celik added. “We are waiting for the final results ... because there are objections and other disputes.”
Celik said Turkey knows both Trump and Biden and is prepared to work with “whichever wing” is the winner.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his congratulations to both Biden and Harris following their presumed win via Twitter on Saturday.
In his address to Biden, Modi fondly remembered the former vice president’s time in the nation’s second highest office, saying: “As the VP, your contribution to strengthening Indo-US relations was critical and invaluable. I look forward to working closely together once again to take India-US relations to greater heights.”
Modi also offered heartfelt congratulations to Harris, whose grandfather was born in Thulasendrapuram, a small village in India. Harris will be the first woman of Asian-American descent, first Black woman, and first woman in general to serve as vice president.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who enjoys one of the rare positive relationships with the Trump administration, shared his congratulations to Biden via video message on Saturday.
“I have a long and warm personal connection with Joe Biden for nearly 40 years, and I know him as a great friend of the State of Israel,” Netanyahu said. “I am certain that we will continue to work with both of them in order to further strengthen the special alliance between Israel and the US.”
Still, Netanyahu could not help but slip in mention of the Trump administration's favorable policies towards his country.
“For myself and for all citizens of the State of Israel, I again thank President (Trump) for the great friendship he showed the State of Israel and me personally,” Netanyahu continued. “I congratulate him on recognizing Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, for his stand on Iran, for the historic peace accords and for bringing the alliance between Israel and the US to unprecedented heights. Thank you, President (Trump).”
“Congratulations to @JoeBiden and @KamalaHarris,” South Korean President Moon Jae-In tweeted on Saturday. “Our alliance is strong and the bond between our two countries is rock-solid. I very much look forward to working with you for our shared values.”
“We extend our congratulations to the President-elect of the United States
@JoeBiden,” President of Paraguay Marito Abdo tweeted. “We wish him the best of success and reaffirm our commitment to continue strengthening bilateral relations based on the democratic principles and values that we share.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.