Exclusive: US is less feared by its traditional adversaries, while its allies feel ever more distant, results show

The 21-country survey for the influential European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) thinktank also found that under Trump, the US is less feared by its traditional adversaries, while its allies – particularly in Europe – feel ever more distant.

The poll, of nearly 26,000 respondents in 13 European countries, the US, China, India, Russia, Turkey, Brazil, South Africa and South Korea, found majorities in almost every territory surveyed expected China’s global influence to grow over the next decade.

  • utopiah@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    2 hours ago

    their economic model is better than the West’s.

    Curious, how do you judge that? There are metrics like GDP, GDP per capita, currency exchange rate, etc but being able to compare those means having reliable numbers. AFAIK China stopped publishing some of those metrics (US too! labor related numbers iirc) and the exchange rate does not apply because the RMB is fixed. Going in countries themselves to “check” means little as you can walk through Potemkin villages.

    I’m not saying you’re wrong only wondering how you reached that conclusion.

    • matthewm05@ttrpg.networkEnglish
      2·
      2 hours ago

      I gave an example with EVs. It’s still fairly new technology, but China has proven that they can make EVs better and cheaper than their Western counterparts. They can do this with fewer resources and lower GDP than the US and other Western nations.

      The West has gotten bloated and complacent. All they do now is focus on funneling as much money as possible to oligarchs and grifters. They cannot compete anymore and EVs are a symptom of that reality.

      • utopiah@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        1 hour ago

        That’s a specific technology with resources they have an advantage on (rare earth elements) with a very shaped market (subsidies, tariffs, etc). Countries have historically been very protective of the car industry. They might very much dominate this market more and more (and arguably justified) yet I don’t think it’s correct to generalize from that example. Also cheaper is not a good metric when the country is known for having work camps or that underpricing a market is in itself a strategy.

        Again I’m not trying to downplay the progress made there (because it is impressive) but I think when a comparison is made it has to be done properly. Here there are quite a few factors that make it difficult plus there is an extrapolation from an example that is not necessarily representative of a trend.

        All that said this it does not justifies problems in the West, including how slow EV adoption was. Both can be painful yet true.