Every year, the Munich Security Conference, the world’s leading forum on international security, releases data that sheds light on how citizens view global risks. In this year’s report, respondents in 11 countries assessed the severity of 32 risks between November 2024 and November 2025. One risk rose the most across virtually all G7 countries and several others: the United States.
The trend began last year, when Donald Trump’s return to the White House became a reality, and has intensified as his foreign policy has taken shape. The conference’s report describes this moment as an era of “wrecking-ball politics,” with the US as the primary driver, marked by sweeping disruption rather than careful reform. As the report puts it, “the US-led post-1945 international order is now under destruction.”
Perceptions of the United States as a source of risk rose most sharply in Canada and India, by 19 and 18 points, respectively. Trade wars are also viewed with significantly increased severity this year, reaching their highest levels since the survey began across all countries polled.
Yet even as perceptions of risk around Washington grew, other threats inside individual countries loomed large. Economic and financial crises, cyberattacks by foreign actors, and rising inequality were judged more serious in several countries, underscoring that geopolitical turbulence is only one part of a broader landscape of security concerns.
