LONDON 鈥 The urgent care doctor cocked an eyebrow at Mari Santos and her American accent.
It was four days after President Donald Trump's inauguration, and Santos was a student with a stomach bug in the first weeks of an overseas semester in Glasgow, Scotland. A doctor arrived to see her after a six-hour wait. But before asking what ailed her, he said this: 鈥淚nteresting time to be an American, I suppose."
Until then, Santos, 20, had not been thinking about Trump 鈥 just her 104-degree fever and concern about being sick while abroad. But the president and his triumphant return to the White House, she says, were on her physician's mind, giving the American University student an instant education in geopolitics. The lesson, as she sees it: 鈥淭here's a kind of chilling in the air.鈥
鈥淚 knew that maybe that Europe is not in general big fan of American politics,鈥 Santos said, 鈥渂ut I didn't expect it to be such like a personal thing.鈥
People are also reading…
The United States and its center of gravity occupy a unique space in the international conversation. People the world over talk about America 鈥 its policies, its proclivities, its place in the world. They have for generations. They did it during the Iraq War. They did it during the first Trump administration.
And two months into Trump 2.0, at least in many European and English-speaking countries, it's happening again 鈥 sometimes even more intensely.
Answering for America under the new Trump administration is becoming a delicate experience for some of the estimated 5 million U.S. citizens living in other countries.
From Santos in Scotland to others in New Zealand, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Canada, Republican and Democratic expats alike told The Associated Press in recent weeks that the moment they are revealed to be American changes virtually every conversation to, in essence, 鈥淲hat about Trump?鈥
What comes after the revelation that someone is American, U.S. citizens overseas say, are awkward questions, pauses and euphemisms 鈥 but almost always a reference to America under Trump in 2025.
鈥淏efore this year, the typical follow-up would be asking where exactly I鈥檓 from and what brought me to France,鈥 said Anthony Mucia, 31, a Nebraska native who lives in Toulouse, France, and has been overseas for six years. 鈥淭wice now, the first thing someone asked me was, 鈥楢re you glad to be in France now?鈥欌 He also gets looks that he interprets as 鈥渁 bit of 鈥榮hock鈥 or 鈥榰neasiness.鈥欌
What's bending these interactions, expats say, is Trump鈥檚 flurry of orders and statements that have upended 80 years of international order and spooked markets. Trump imposed sweeping tariffs this past week.
He鈥檚 talked about how the U.S. will 鈥渙ne way or the other鈥 capture Greenland from Denmark, 鈥渢ake back鈥 Panama and make Canada the 51st U.S. state. He wants to empty and develop war-battered Gaza, and has cut off U.S. aid to the world鈥檚 neediest people. He鈥檚 falsely blamed President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for starting the Russian invasion and ended a White House meeting with Zelenskyy after berating the Ukrainian leader. Trump has let Europe鈥檚 leaders know that the U.S. is not a staunch ally in facing the Russian threat. And he鈥檚 set off tariff wars with China, Canada and Mexico.
Not smoothing the American experience overseas is the backlash developing against Trump鈥檚 association with Elon Musk and Tesla, which has fueled growing boycott movements. People are joining Facebook groups to exchange ideas about how to avoid U.S. products. Feelings are especially strong across the Nordic region 鈥 particularly Denmark, where Trump鈥檚 moves have set 鈥渢he Danish Viking blood boiling,鈥 one man told The Associated Press.
So far, the interactions are less hostile than wary, Americans overseas say. But anti-U.S. sentiment is emerging as a concern on the cusp of what's expected to be a record-setting international travel season for Americans.
Jake Lamb, 32, moved from Colorado to Auckland, New Zealand, in 2023. He said he's 鈥渘oticed a significant shift in the types and frequency of questions I鈥檓 asked鈥 over the past year. Kiwis remain friendly about it, but they've been saying they might have to 鈥渉ide鈥 Lamb or vouch that he's 鈥渙ne of the good ones鈥 if Trump escalates conflicts with former allies. He thinks that the good humor belies wariness.
鈥淚 am concerned that it may become difficult for some not to hold individual Americans responsible,鈥 Lamb, a volunteer coordinator for a charity and who voted for Democrat Kamala Harris, said in an email.
Elizabeth Van Horne, 33, has lived in France since 2013. For years, she said, people would ask 鈥渨hy on Earth I'd come to live in France if I could live in the U.S: 'It's so beautiful, there's so much potential, so much opportunity, like living in a TV show.'鈥
鈥淣ow, that romanticized image has completely changed,鈥 Van Horne, a Democrat, said in an email. Early in March, a postal worker told her it's sad to watch.
鈥淔or me,鈥 she said, 鈥渢hat conversation summed it up: 鈥楯e suis desole pour vous鈥 鈥 鈥業鈥檓 sorry for you.'鈥
Georganne Burke, a Syracuse, N.Y., native living in Ottawa, supported Trump in all three elections and is the chairwoman of Republicans Overseas in Canada. She's a dual citizen, which makes her something like the Peace Bridge that links the two nations in Buffalo, N.Y.
Trump's tariff war, his manner and his provocative talk about how Canada 鈥渙nly works鈥 as the 51st U.S. state 鈥渉as everybody's hair on fire," she said in an interview. Burke, 77, says she's received threats and had a tense talk with an anti-Trump co-worker. People ask her, 鈥淗ow could anyone vote for him?"
Burke's counterpart in London, Greg Swenson of Republicans Overseas UK, says walking around as an American in another country remains more positive than negative. In interviews with media outlets, he readily acknowledges Trump can be 鈥渙bnoxious.鈥 But Swenson, 62, is an investment banker, and he says the president and America remain good for business.
鈥淚n the private capital world, which is not affected by day-to-day (market) volatility, there is just a huge amount of optimism,鈥 Swenson said.
