The first debate between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday night garnered international attention, with viewers outside the United States closely watching the showdown.

The outcome of the November election is expected to have significant implications for U.S. foreign policy, leading the international community to pay close attention following President Biden’s withdrawal from the race in July.

The international press’s reactions to the debate differed starkly from the first debate, which largely focused on concerns surrounding Biden’s cognitive abilities.

This time, Trump’s performance was the main target of criticism.

The U.K. press, known for its partisan divisions, reflected critical assessments of Trump’s performance under pressure from Harris, who was widely seen as successfully achieving what many of Trump’s opponents had failed to do – flustering him.

Three of the right-leaning Telegraph’s top stories on the debate suggested Harris emerged victorious, with one headline reading “Harris puts Trump on defensive in fiery showdown,” while another report described Trump’s performance as “furious” and “rambled.”

In analyzing the debate’s winner, The Guardian declared that Harris “made [Trump] look ridiculous.”

“It is difficult to crown Harris the victor of a political debate in which she said so little about her own platform. But her attack strategy won her the night. Trump fell for it: hook line and sinker,” the report added. 

The Times of London, generally considered a conservative-leaning newspaper, reported that Trump “struggled” through the debate, while another report criticized that he “leaned” into his base rather than going after moderate voters after they claimed he that migrants in Springfield, Ohio, were “eating the pets” of residents.

A third report on the Times’ homepage read, “Strong night for Harris gets better with Taylor Swift endorsement.”

The Sun had more divided takeaways of the night with one report claiming Trump “ripped into Harris” while who called Trump’s debate talking points “Nonsense” and also highlighted his “meltdown over ‘migrants eating pets’.”

The French press gave the win to Harris, with Le Monde, the nation’s top publication, leading with a headline that read “Harris, on offense, wins debate against Trump.”

L’Express, a Paris-based magazine described as center-right, also argued Trump was on the defensive Tuesday night in its report titled, “‘Kamala Harris has started to bang on Trump’ – the debate seen by the foreign press.”

The leading story on the publicly funded news outlet Deutsche Welle was headed by, “Harris puts Trump on defensive in fiery debate” and claimed pollsters showed Harris “narrowly won” over Trump. 

Though the report also noted the debate is unlikely to have an impact on U.S. voters – a sentiment broadly expressed in reporting across the U.S. as well.

Russian state-owned media TASS did not have any mention of the U.S. debate on its homepage.

While state-run news agency RIA Novosti lightly covered the debate, with one report headlined “Trump is doomed.”

A second report pointed to a response issued by the German Foreign Office following comments made by Trump during his closing remarks that criticized Berlin’s push toward clean energy.

The by the ministry posted to X, which said, “Like it or not: Germany’s energy system is fully operational, with more than 50% renewables. And we are shutting down – not building – coal & nuclear plants. Coal will be off the grid by 2038 at the latest. 

“PS: We also don’t eat cats and dogs,” the ministry added in an apparent jab at Trump’s previous debate comments. 

In Ukraine – where the results of the 2024 election are given Trump’s previous comments suggesting he will not continue to militarily support Kyiv – reports focused on the combative exchange between Trump and Harris. 

The Kyiv Independent that he will have the war “settled” before even taking up the top job if elected this November – though he has refused to detail how he will accomplish this. 

The report did not name a winner or a loser, though it pointed out the two engaged in a bitter clash over the issue of Russia’s invasion and highlighted Trump’s refusal to say whether he wants Ukraine to come out on top.

Israeli publications appeared to have more heavily covered the debate, though both candidates spent little time discussing the war between Israel and Hamas, and Harris was largely deemed the frontrunner.

One , a right-leaning outlet, said Harris was “exuding confidence and control” and accused Trump of appearing “self-absorbed rather than voter-focused.”

The report said there was no clear “knockout” winner, but added the debate “was a genuine rhetorical slugfest in which Harris successfully exploited Trump’s weak spots and knocked him off balance.”

The Jerusalem Post, also deemed to have conservative tendencies in its reporting, described the debate as “predictable” but noted Trump’s “apocalyptic prediction” that Israel would cease to exist under a Harris presidency was a “reach” and “oddly depriv[ed] the Jewish state of any agency or capacity to survive.”