Shots heard around the world: Global leaders react to Trump assassination attempt

The shots were heard around the world.

And leaders from across the globe, both allies and rivals alike, were quick to condemn the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump at his campaign rally in Pennsylvania.

In Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said in a post on X that he was “sickened by the shooting.” “Political violence is never acceptable.”

European leaders were also quick to offer their support to Trump, who was shot in the ear. Several European leaders and politicians had been attacked in the run-up to elections there.

The U.K.’s new prime minister, Keir Starmer, said he was “appalled by the shocking scenes.”

“Political violence in any form has no place in our societies and my thoughts are with all the victims of this attack,” he wrote on X.

French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz both wished Trump a “speedy recovery” in posts on X. Macron added that France shared “the shock and indignation of the American people,” while Scholz said: “Such acts of violence threaten democracy.” Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also offered her “best wishes” to the presumptive Republican nominee. 

Elsewhere, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted on X that “such violence has no justification and no place anywhere in the world.” He offered his condolences to the spectator who was killed at the rally and two other people who were critically injured.

And in Japan, where former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe died after he was shot at a political campaign event in July 2022, the country’s current leader, Fumio Kishida, called for a stand against violence that “challenges democracy.”

In the Middle East, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he and his wife, Sara, were “shocked” by the attack, while Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he strongly condemned it. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el–Sissi called it a “treacherous incident” on Facebook.

Although relations between China and the U.S. have been strained in recent years over trade, U.S. support for Taiwan, and Beijing’s growing ties to Russia despite the war in Ukraine, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said President Xi Jinping “expressed sympathies” for Trump.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also said he was “deeply concerned by the attack on my friend.” He added that “violence has no place in politics and democracies.”

There was a slightly less friendly statement from Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, who said that Russia had “always condemned and we strongly condemn any manifestations of violence during political struggle.”

“We don’t at all think and don’t believe that the attempt to eliminate presidential candidate Trump was organized by the current government,” he added. “But the atmosphere that it created during the political struggle, the atmosphere around candidate Trump, is precisely what provoked what America is faced with today.” 

Without mentioning Trump, Miguel Diaz-Canel Bermudez, the first secretary of Cuba’s Communist Party, said his country “ratifies its historical position of condemnation of all forms of violence.”

Elsewhere, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called the shooting “unacceptable” and Mexican President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum said it was “condemnable.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also called the incident “concerning and confronting,” while Christopher Luxon, his counterpart in New Zealand, said “no country should encounter such political violence.”