In Sydney, Australia, Lucy Sunman crawled out of bed at 3 am to watch President Biden’s inauguration live.
“The frightening effect of the Trump presidency has impacted us all over the world,” said Sunman, a 36-year-old lawyer. “I can’t wait for some stability to be restored.”
In Seoul, Park Sang-ki, 70, was sitting at his cramped print shop across the street from the U.S. Embassy, reading online news about Donald Trump’s departure from the White House.
“America was considered an advanced nation, like a gentleman,” said Park. “Trump, he was like a gang boss.”
In Berlin, Yvonne Wagner opened champagne to celebrate “the moment that we have all waited for so long”.
“The clown is finally gone,” said Wagner, a 52-year-old secretary.
When Biden took office on Wednesday, promising to unify a nation torn by caustic political divisions and a deadly pandemic, the rest of the world also watched closely. Many were less focused on the rise of Biden than on the departure of Trump, a grandiose character who loved to break the status quo at home and abroad and who will be remembered as one of the most controversial presidents not only in American history, but globally.
“Have a nice trip,” said Nydia Ngiow, the former commercial negotiator for the Singapore government who spent several years working in Washington at her government’s embassy.
Images of Trump supporters attacking the U.S. Capitol this month illuminated how damaging his presidency had been, she said.
“It is almost as if we have witnessed the fall of America, a country so often seen since World War II as the leader of the free world,” she said. “There is no more credibility to it, there is no more responsibility and it will definitely be an uphill battle for Biden to repair the damage that Trump has done.”
A Pew Research Center survey of people in 32 countries conducted before last year’s presidential election found that 64% of respondents did not trust Trump to do the right thing in world affairs.
A proud nationalist who always spoke of putting “America first”, he withdrew from global agreements, restricted legal immigration and started a trade war with China.
Biden, a longtime member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and vice president of President Obama, is widely seen as a known person who will be more predictable than his predecessor on many issues, including foreign policy.
He vowed to be an active world leader. Among his first acts on Wednesday was a return to the Paris climate deal, and he promised to reverse Trump’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization. Biden said he would call for a global summit of democracies to stem the worldwide rise in authoritarian leaders.
“There is a need for a reengagement from the United States,” said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week, adding that the Biden government represents a major change from the “slightly more unpredictable and sometimes challenging” that preceded it.
Others applauded Vice President Kamala Harris’s entry into the White House. No woman has stood out in American politics.
Harris, who is black and American Indian, has become a symbol of hope in India, where some of her family members live.
“I can’t help feeling proud,” said Watsal Yadav, a 23-year-old who sells tomatoes, eggplant and fragrant bunches of coriander on a busy Mumbai street.
“America is a powerful country in the world and now one of us is leading it.”
Ireland also expressed its joy at seeing Biden, a proud Irish American, take over. “Ireland is very proud of Joe Biden’s tenure,” tweeted Simon Coveney, the country’s foreign minister. “We look forward to welcoming you to your ancestral home at the beginning of your presidency.”
Trump’s political enemies celebrated his departure. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani criticized Trump at a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, saying his term as President of the U.S., which was “fraught with cruelty and violation of the law, [is] now it’s over.”
His friends, in turn, regretted it.
“We had a good relationship,” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador told reporters on Wednesday morning. He thanked Trump for respecting Mexico’s sovereignty.
It was an unlikely turnaround for López Obrador, a nationalist who, as a candidate for president, criticized Trump for his mocking comments about Mexican immigrants in the United States and who wrote a book demanding respect for Mexico called “Listen, Trump”.
But world leaders have become incredibly close allies. López Obrador waited six weeks to congratulate Biden on his victory and defended Trump when he was expelled from Twitter after the attack on the United States Capitol.
Many analysts see a conflict ahead for the US and Mexico, in part because López Obrador and Biden have very different views on climate change, renewable energy and security cooperation.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing nationalist who followed the Trump model, also regrets his departure. But analysts say the rise of leaders like Bolsonaro means that Trump’s legacy is going nowhere.
“Trump is gone, but the [populist wave] it’s not, ”tweeted Brian Winter, vice president of policy for the Council of the Americas think tank.
Some people watched Biden’s inauguration with skepticism, unsure whether the change in the White House would translate into a change in politics.
In China, Talia Yan, a 21-year-old university student, said the professors explained that it didn’t matter whether Biden or Trump was the president.
“Honestly, none of them will particularly support China,” said a professor.
“No matter what happens, they will try to push China down,” said Yan, eating steamed buns at Yaoji Fried Liver, a former Beijing diner that Biden visited in 2011 as vice president. “We need to maintain our defenses, not let them go just because Biden is here.”
Others said the end of Trump’s presidency was a time for reflection.
Nicolas Richter, editor of the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper in Munich, wrote in an editorial that Trump’s departure was “the best news of the year”.
But he said he also revealed important truths.
“For a long time, Western democracies have seen existential threats represented mainly from abroad,” he wrote. “Trump has shown that these threats are now mostly hidden at home. His chaotic rise and presidency is a modern warning against autocracy. “
Linthicum and Kim, editors of the Times, reported in Mexico City and Seoul, respectively. Special correspondent Kirschbaum reported from Berlin. Editors David Pierson and Shashank Bengali in Singapore, Alice Su in Beijing and Nabih Bulos in Beirut and special correspondent Tish Sanghera in Mumbai contributed to this report.