MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/. US foreign policy during Donald Trump’s presidency has lost an ideological footing and has turned into an instrument for attaining economic objectives, including the ones in the energy sector, Frants Klintsevich, a member of the defense and security committee in the upper house of Russian parliament told TASS on Tuesday.
He said it in a comment on the findings by US public opinion researchers, who have registered a slide of popularity rankings of the US and its President across the world.
"I think the results of the poll taken by the Pew Research Center reflect one of the leading international tendencies, which got into spotlight recently," Klintsevich said. "Everything is only too logical. You can’t impose your will on the world endlessly while ignoring the interests of your opponents as well as allies."
He believes, however, that a subjective factor plays a role, too.
"Under the baton of President Donald Trump, who was an important businessman in the past, the incumbent US Administration has completely removed the ideological coating from the American policy and has started considering it exceptionally as an instrument for the solution of business objectives," Klintsevich said.
"The so-called trade wars the US is leading in many parts of the world and the striving to install its monopoly in the energy sector by hook or by crook are the 21st century remakes of the 19th century opium wars," he said.
Pew Research Center released the results of an opinion poll taken on five continents that showed a general shrinkage of the percentage of respondents who sized up Trump’s steps in the international area as correct ones.
In Russia, this group of respondents has reduced from 53% to 19%
Trump’s popularity rankings are the lowest in Mexico [6%], France [9%], and Germany [10%].
The popularity rankings of the US as such are decreasing, too. The percentage of respondents treating the US favorably has fallen to 30% this year from 35% in 2017 and 57% in 2016 in Germany.
The number of Frenchmen with warm feelings towards the US has reduced to 38% this year from 46% in 2017 and 63% in 2016.
