The GOP’s sweeping midterm losses are drawing a positive response from several foreign leaders who have clashed with President Donald Trump, with some expressing hope that Democrats’ victories could lead to a shift in U.S. policy on major global issues.
Democrats secured majorities in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate in Tuesday’s elections, setting the stage for a shift in congressional power in January and prompting reactions from officials in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez took aim at Trump’s policies in a Wednesday X post, suggesting that American voters had rejected the president’s political agenda and predicting that a similar shift would soon take place in Spain.
“Yesterday, American society voted against policies that only make people poorer,” Sánchez wrote. “Against hate. Against sexism. Against climate denial and against elite privilege.”
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Sánchez has been an outspoken critic of U.S. and Israeli military operations against Iran, accusing Washington in March of “playing Russian roulette” with millions of lives. His opposition to the war and disputes with Trump over NATO defense spending have contributed to tensions between Madrid and Washington.
“We are not going to be complicit in something that is bad for the world and is also contrary to our values and interests, just out of fear of reprisals from someone,” Sánchez said.
“Wild result in the USA last night! I’m cautiously optimistic on Europe’s behalf,” European Parliament Vice President Christel Schaldemose wrote in a Wednesday X post. “Not because everything now changes for the better, but because it could benefit the support for Ukraine, the green transition, and relations with the rest of the world.”
Schaldemose criticized Trump’s interest in Greenland in January 2025, also suggesting that Europeans should “stand up for ourselves both in terms of the economy the global economy but also in terms of digital policy and the climate.”
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said Wednesday that the election results presented an opportunity for world leaders to work together to ease cost-of-living pressures and resolve the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, Sky News reported.
“Well, President Trump has accepted the results, and I feel the world has an opportunity now to unite around the issue that is affecting us all – and that’s the cost-of-living,” Burnham said. “That has been the issue that I have put front and centre in my first three months in Downing Street, and we’ve made moves, but I can’t get people’s cost of living pressures down until the conflict in the Middle East is resolved.”
Trump said in July that he had a “very good” conversation with Burnham about trade and security issues, although the two governments have since differed over Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank. In September, Britain announced plans to strengthen sanctions targeting settlements and prevent British companies from assisting settlement construction, drawing criticism from U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
Americans have been grappling with higher costs as the war in Iran has caused energy prices to surge. The U.S. affordability crisis was a major issue for voters heading into this year’s midterms.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Ghalibaf claimed in a Wednesday social media post that U.S. voters “said NO TO WAR” amid cost-of-living concerns.
“Conscience or the cost of living, Americans said NO TO WAR, and we endorse this message,” Ghalibaf said, according to the Independent. “If the US govt betrays their public will to serve international paymasters and blackmailers, it will learn our NO comes with a Nightmare.”
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Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara emphasized during a Wednesday press conference that the Japan-U.S. alliance “remains the cornerstone of Japan’s foreign and security policy regardless of the outcome of the elections,” Kyodo News reported.
Additionally, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters on Wednesday that he thinks the Democratic Party’s victory in the midterms will “introduce a new era in world relations,” Reuters reported.
Trump confronted Ramaphosa during a May 2025 White House meeting, playing video footage that he claimed showed evidence of widespread violence against White South African farmers. Ramaphosa disputed Trump’s allegations of persecution, while subsequent fact-checks found that some of the footage had been mischaracterized.
Trump claimed in a Tuesday night Truth Social post that if his name appeared on the ballot in the 2026 midterms the GOP would have “won IN A LANDSLIDE!”
Trump nevertheless congratulated Democrats on their victories and expressed a willingness to work with the incoming congressional majorities, while emphasizing that he would retain the power to veto legislation he opposes.
“They’ll send over things that are insane, and I’ll veto them,” Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier on Tuesday night, adding that the two parties would eventually have to work together to get legislation passed.
