Views From Abroad on United States Vote

A survey of world reaction to the election of Bill Clinton reveals cautious optimism, amid concerns about trade protectionism and disruptions in US foreign policy in the Middle East and China

Mexicans expect Clinton to stay the course on trade agreement

PRESIDENT Carlos Salinas de Gortari and President Bush both came to power in 1988. The two saw eye-to-eye on free-market economics and a range of other issues. They developed a close personal relationship. For official and corporate Mexico, the Clinton win is viewed as the end of an era.

Yet Mr. Salinas greeted the result as "positive and encouraging" given the president-elect's stated support for the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Columnists at the semi-independent newspaper La Jornada called the Bush defeat the fruit of 12 years of Reaganomics. The loss, like that of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, marks the end of the cycle of neoliberalism, "which ignored poverty and the environment in its recipes," one columnist wrote.