A foreign tourist wearing traditional Chinese clothing visits and takes photos in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing on June 9, 2026. Photo: VCG

According to a report released by the Pew Research Center on Monday, for the first time in almost two decades of the center's surveys, both Canadians and Mexicans now view China more favorably than their shared neighbor, the US. A Chinese expert said that this shift in public opinion is a bellwether, indicating that China's sustained and consistent foreign policy has gained wider acceptance internationally, and that the US' doctrine of placing its own interests above those of all other countries is eroding Washington's global influence.
  
Pew's spring 2026 global survey marks the first time that Canadians have expressed a significantly more positive view of China than the US. In addition, Pew's Monday report said that Mexicans had viewed China more favorably than the US in several previous Pew surveys - all of them conducted during US President Donald Trump's time in the White House.

The report also said that "both younger and older adults in Canada and Mexico have a more favorable view of China than of the US."

In addition to age, the report examined how political ideology shapes perceptions of the two countries. Canadians who place themselves on the ideological left are much more likely than those on the right to have a favorable view of China and an unfavorable view of the US, the report said. In Mexico, views of the US and China don't differ much by ideology.

The report said that Mexicans are much more likely to call China a reliable partner to Mexico than to say this about the US, with 58 percent considering China a reliable partner and only 34 percent saying the same of the US. The report added that "this is the largest gap on this question across the six Latin American countries we surveyed this year."

Meanwhile, Mexicans are now much more likely to say that China contributes to global stability than to say the same of the US, according to the report.

China's foreign policy has maintained a high degree of stability and continuity, consistently upholding openness, mutual benefit and win‑win cooperation while pursuing shared development. This is the core driving force behind this historic shift, Yang Xiyu, a senior research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Notably, the shift in perceptions occurred within a year. In the Pew Research Center's 2025 survey, Canadians and Mexicans both named the US as their country's top ally and top threat.

The US' frequent military actions abroad and its wanton interference in the internal affairs of other countries over the past year have made more people aware that the US is a "destabilizing force," which has been an important factor behind the shift in public opinion, Yang said.

In addition, US foreign policy has lacked consistency, its "America First" doctrine, which places US interests above those of other countries, has further eroded Washington's international credibility and global clout, Yang added.

 "Canadians and Mexicans also now rate the US more negatively on both its domestic and foreign policies," the report said. In Mexico, peoples' views of the US approach to foreign policy have also worsened significantly over the last several years. While half of Mexican adults said in 2023 that the US contributed to peace and stability around the world, 28 percent say the same today. 

Mexicans are also more likely to say that the US interferes in the affairs of other countries than to say this about China, at 73 percent and 45 percent, respectively, according to the report.

Yang said the shifts in public sentiment reflected in the poll served as a "bellwether." The decline in favorable views of the US is, on the surface, a sign of waning soft power; at a deeper level, it reflects a relative retreat in its comprehensive national strength.

Should the US persist with its self-serving foreign policy, the trends already apparent in this poll will likely emerge in a growing number of countries, according to Yang.