MOSCOW \u2014 World leaders struggled Wednesday to come to grips with a new reality \u2014 Donald Trump will be the next U. S. president \u2014 and an as yet unanswerable question: How many of his campaign pledges will he actually act on?
The remarkable triumph of the politically untested businessman was welcomed in some countries, such as Russia, while in others it was a major shock.
When Mr. Trump takes office in January, world leaders will confront a man whose stated views represent a sharp break with U. S. foreign policy orthodoxy. He has cozied up to Russian President Vladimir Putin, warned stunned NATO allies they will have to pay for their own protection, floated a ban on Muslims entering the U. S. and vowed to make the Mexican government finance a multibillion-dollar border wall.
These changes, and others, are seen as having the potential to radically remake U. S. policy \u2014 a prospect that has given stability-loving partners a cascading case of the jitters.
Leaders from countries that are close allies of the U. S. \u2014 including British Prime Minister Theresa May and German Chancellor Angela Merkel \u2014 congratulated Mr. Trump and reaffirmed their partnership to the U. S. They were joined by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada \u2014 whose immigration site crashed on Tuesday night due to a surge in traffic \u2014 and Premier Matteo Renzi of Italy, which faces the anti-establishment whirlwind during a referendum on political overhaul scheduled for Dec. 4.
Canada\u2019s ambassador to Washington, David MacNaughton, also said Wednesday that Canada is open to renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement if that\u2019s what Mr. Trump wants.
Mr. Trump\u2019s victory was hailed in Russia, which has taken an increasingly aggressive stance toward the West in recent months. Mr. Putin sent Mr. Trump a congratulatory telegram Wednesday and made a televised statement expressing the hope that frayed U. S.-Russian relations could be put back on track.
\u201cWe are aware that it is a difficult path, in view of the unfortunate degradation of relations between the Russian Federation and the United States,\u201d the Russian leader said, adding: \u201cIt is not our fault that Russian-American relations are in such a state.\u201d
Russia became a focal point during the presidential campaign, with government officials and Hillary Clinton supporters suggesting Moscow was involved in hacking her campaign\u2019s emails. Mr. Trump raised eyebrows when he expressed admiration for Mr. Putin and his tough leadership style, and some Clinton backers questioned Mr. Trump\u2019s business dealings with Russia.
Dmitri Drobnitski, a columnist at the generally pro-Kremlin website LifeNews, asserted Mr. Trump\u2019s victory will help the world.
\u201cI congratulate the American people with their will and with their democracy and with their strength and with their courage,\u201d he told The Associated Press. \u201cSo this is not only a victory for the Americans, who defended their democracy against the liberal, global elite \u2014 no, this is a victory that the American people brought to the whole world.\u201d
There is anxiety in Europe among NATO allies who are waiting to see if Mr. Trump follows through on suggestions the U. S. will look at whether they have paid their proper share in considering whether to come to their defense.
That rhetoric has challenged the strategic underpinning of the NATO alliance \u2014 in which an attack on one NATO nation is considered an attack on all \u2014 at a time when Russia has been ever more confrontational.
Poland\u2019s President Andrzej Duda is\u00a0a populist who shares a number of ideological similarities with Mr. Trump,\u00a0but he nevertheless reminded the president-elect Wednesday of the important \u201cstrategic partnership\u201d shared by their two nations, including the pledge to send troops to NATO\u2019s eastern flank.
\u201cAs a candidate, Trump called into question NATO and trade agreements, and reached out to Moscow,\u201d said Daniela Schwarzer, an expert on trans-Atlantic relations at the German Council on Foreign Relations.
\u201cEven if President Trump doesn\u2019t implement everything, Germany and Europe can\u2019t rely on the trans-Atlantic partnership as usual, and will have to stand up for Western values themselves.\u201d
Mr. Trump\u2019s win also caused trepidation in Mexico, where his remarks calling Mexican immigrants criminals and \u201crapists\u201d were a deep insult to national pride.
Mr. Trump has suggested slapping a 35 percent tax on automobiles and auto parts made by U. S. companies in Mexico, and financial analysts have predicted a Trump win will threaten billions of dollars in cross-border trade.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said he and Mr. Trump agreed to meet during the transition period.
Mr. Trump\u2019s victory is \u201cas close to a national emergency as Mexico has faced in many decades,\u201d Mexican analyst Alejandro Hope said.
It also caused concern in Cuba, over Mr. Trump\u2019s threat to roll back President Barack Obama\u2019s normalization of relations unless Cuban President Raul Castro agrees to more political freedoms. Mr. Castro sent a terse congratulatory message.
\u201cIf he reverses it, it hurts us,\u201d taxi driver Oriel Iglesias Garcia said. \u201cYou know tourism will go down.\u201d
Mr. Trump\u2019s electoral triumph was also felt strongly in the volatile Middle East, where multiple crises are unfolding. One major concern is Mr. Trump\u2019s vehement opposition to the historic nuclear agreement between Iran and world powers under which Iran has curbed its nuclear program in exchange for a gradual lifting of international sanctions.
In Iran, leaders emphasized the need to keep the agreement on track despite Mr. Trump\u2019s victory. The deal \u201ccannot be overturned by a single government,\u201d Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said.
Israel\u2019s leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, indicated a high comfort level with the next president, hailing Mr. Trump as a \u201ctrue friend of the state of Israel.\u201d\u00a0Earlier, Education Minister Naftali Bennett, said Mr. Trump\u2019s victory means that \u201cthe era of a Palestinian state is over.\u201d
Iraq\u2019s leader, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, also congratulated Mr. Trump and expressed hope the \u201cworld and the United States will continue to support Iraq in fighting terrorism.\u201d
Turkey\u2019s Prime Minister Binali Yildirim called on Mr. Trump to extradite Pennsylvania-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen \u2014 blamed by Ankara for the failed coup in July \u2014 as soon as he is sworn in.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump received congratulations from Dutch anti-Islam populist Geert Wilders and French anti-immigrant politician Marine Le Pen. Hungary\u2019s border-fence-building prime minister, Viktor Orban, also called the election \u201cgreat news.\u201d\u00a0Hindu nationalists in India also were celebrating.
Without commenting directly on Mr. Trump\u2019s election, China\u2019s government said Beijing hopes to work with the new U. S. administration. Nicaragua\u2019s leftist President Daniel Ortega and Venezuela\u2019s foreign ministry also sent their well wishes.
Elsewhere, there was one curious constituency that seemed to be happy about the new American president-elect: Islamist extremists, who believe that the victory of a candidate like Mr. Trump undermines the United States\u2019 moral standing in the world.
The Washington Post, The Seattle Times and Bloomberg News contributed.<\/p>\n

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