Since US President Donald Trump was inaugurated in January, he has upended longstanding assumptions about the United States’ power and place in the world, its involvement in global institutions, and its approach to its allies and partners.

In this context, Australians’ trust in the United States to act responsibly in the world fell by 20 points, with only 36% of the public expressing any level of trust — a new low in two decades of Lowy Institute polling. Correspondingly, almost two-thirds of the public (64%) say they hold ‘not very much’ trust (32%) or no trust ‘at all’ (32%) in the United States to act responsibly.

On this question, trust towards the United States among older Australians fell dramatically (by 30 points for those aged 45 and over) while trust among younger Australians was already relatively low and fell by a smaller margin (by ten points for those aged 18 to 44).

Trust in China continued to improve incrementally, rising three points to 20%. In 2022, trust in China reached a record low of 12%. Since then, it has risen marginally each year. Despite this modest recovery, trust in China in 2025 remains relatively low compared to historic levels up until 2018, when 52% said they trusted China to act responsibly. Russia remains the least trusted country on this measure at 11% — a marginal improvement of three points.

Japan has reached a record high of 90%, topping this list five years in a row. The vast majority of Australians also continue to trust the United Kingdom (85%), climbing five points since last year, while France remained steady at 80%.

Indonesia (58%) rose six points, while India remained steady (54%), both countries continuing to elicit middling levels of trust.

Trust in global powers