Donald Trump's raw campaign rhetoric has been criticized in the United States as xenophobic, racist, vulgar, spreading falsehoods and for inciting violence at his political rallies. And while the Republican Party presidential front-runner has dismissed such criticism, around the world words appear to matter.

Trump's rhetoric has drawn condemnation from all corners of the world, including – remarkably – from some of the United States' most stalwart of allies. Trump's promise to bar Muslims from entering the country, criticism of Islam as a religion that "hates us," vow to force Mexico to pay for a higher wall along its border with the U.S. and declaration that U.S. allies pay more for military alliances has drawn criticism from international diplomats in hushed tones in Washington, from bloggers across the globe and from leaders in government and business around the world.

Heads of state traditionally shy away from commenting directly on U.S. presidential elections, knowing they must be prepared to work with any candidate. Not this political season. In the United Kingdom, a 10 Downing Street spokesman declined to comment on a Trump presidency. In the recent past, however, British Prime Minister David Cameron has criticized Trump on several occasions, describing the billionaire businessman's call last year to ban Muslims from entering the United States as "divisive, stupid and wrong." Trump's claims that there are Muslim-controlled "no-go areas" in the UK that police refuse to enter spurred an online petition and parliamentary debate to block the Republican presidential candidate from entering the country.

"If he came to visit our country, I think he would unite us all against him," Cameron told the House of Commons last December. In January, Cameron expanded on those remarks, telling mic.com, a U.S. news site tailored to millennials, that Trump and others who blame all Muslims for the acts of a few extremists are making a huge error. "In many ways," Cameron said, "it actually helps extremists, because they want to create a clash of civilizations between Islam and Christianity, or Islam and the West . . . So what Donald Trump says is, in my view, not only wrong, but actually it makes the work we need to do to confront and defeat extremists more difficult."

Jacob Parakilas, an expert on trans-Atlantic relations at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, a London think tank, says Cameron and other European leaders are likely alarmed by Trump's dismissive remarks about NATO and trans-Atlantic security pacts and U.S.-Europe trade agreements, as well as his praise for Russian President Vladimir Putin. "I think the prospect of Trump as president would be viewed with suspicion here," Parakilas says.

The alliance between the U.S. and Britain has often been called a "special relationship" and it's not unusual for American presidents and British premiers to forge personal bonds. Parakilas says that he believes Cameron "would make an effort" to work with Trump. But given their disparate personal styles, he adds, it's hard to image the pair forming a close friendship.

Europe: Trump's candidacy is 'a bad joke that might become reality'

Across Europe, which has witnessed a rise of right-wing politicians, few leaders have spoken out on Trump. The GOP candidate's remarks on Muslims did, however, draw sharp rebukes from Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny and from leaders in Germany. Trump has criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel's policy to accept large numbers of refugees from Syria and other strife-torn countries, a sentiment supported by other European countries and a growing number of Germans. But within Germany, criticism of Trump is even stronger.

"Trump's candidacy has opened the door to madness, for the unthinkable to happen, a bad joke that might become reality," German business daily Handelsblatt wrote recently, describing the candidate as "grotesque."

In a rare move by a high-level official, German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel issued a stark warning about the Republican candidate: "Donald Trump, Marine Le Pen and Geert Wilders – all these right-wing populists are not only a threat to peace and societal cohesion but also to economic development," Gabriel told Welt am Sonntag newspaper earlier this month, referring to the leaders of the far right movements in France and the Netherlands, respectively.

Merkel was slightly more circumspect when asked by Bild, Germany's largest daily, what she thought of Trump describing her refugee policy as "insane."

"I don't know Trump personally," she said. "And I don't see why I should need to respond to him."

Sudha David-Wilp, a senior transatlantic fellow at the German Marshall Fund in Berlin, a think tank, says deep concern about the future relationship with Germany's most important ally is spurring officials to speak out. "Germans are concerned about what kind of foreign policy credentials Donald Trump has. And Donald Trump is the 'Ugly American' that has come to life."

The Middle East: 'I bailed you out twice; a 3rd time, maybe?'

Across the Arab world, the U.S. presidential campaign is seen by many as not offering tangible policy options for crises ranging from Syria to Libya. Trump has generated outrage, thanks to his comments about barring Muslims. His claim last week that Islam is a religion that "hates us" was commented widely on social media in the region.

The GOP candidate drew angry headlines in Iraq last February when he praised Saddam Hussein for "killing terrorists," a statement with no proof; the former Iraqi dictator often branded his opponents as traitors. Last October, Trump said the world would be better off "100 percent" if Saddam and Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi were still ruling their countries.

Trump has said Saudi Arabia should pay the United States for "protection." In response, various Saudi news outlets have widely derided Trump and warned against the impact of a possible Trump presidency. "In response to Trump's hallucinations: God and Saudi Arabia's army will protect it," said an editorial in Almowaten.net, a news site authorized by the Saudi Ministry of Information and Culture. Saudi billionaire and international investor Prince AlWaleed bin Talal took to Twitter to criticize Trump, including this stinging salvo: "I bailed you out twice; a 3rd time, maybe?"

Trump has business interests in the United Arab Emirates, where he and daughter Ivanka have worked to profit from the family name. Those interests have been unaffected by the candidate's comments, with the exception of the Landmark retail group halting the sale of Trump merchandise. Last December, Trump's name was temporarily removed from a $6 billion golf complex being built in Dubai with DAMAC, after he proposed banning Muslims from entering the United States. However, Reuters reported the name was back up two days later.

In Israel, an opinion poll released in February by the Rafi Smith Polling Institute indicated that 14 percent of Israelis support Trump, while 41 percent support Democratic Party front-runner Hillary Clinton. Eytan Gilboa, an expert on U.S.-Israeli relations at Bar-Ilan University, says Israelis are mostly confused by Trump's front-runner status in the Republican Party. Trump's derision of political correctness, hawkish stance on Islamic terrorism and opposition to the Iran nuclear deal certainly speak to Israelis.



Yet other aspects of his candidacy contradict their values. Trump's criticism of U.S. Sen. John McCain, a Vietnam War veteran and former prisoner of war, struck a raw nerve with Israelis. Israelis care deeply about POWs, Gilboa says, noting Israel's agreement in 2011 to release 1,027 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for Gilad Shalit, an Israeli solder held captive for five years.

Immediately after Trump called for banning Muslims from entering the U.S., Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who Trump stumped for in the 2013 election, issued a statement rejecting such a call.

"After Obama, Netanyahu would have liked to see a Republican in the White House," Gilboa recently wrote in the Jerusalem Post. "Nevertheless, despite his strong pro-Israel stance, given his character and controversial positions, Donald Trump may not be the best choice to repair American-Israeli relations in the post-Obama era."

Asia: Derision in China, outrage in South Korea

Across Asia, the few public comments from official sources about Trump have been critical. In China, the Global Times, a tabloid newspaper affiliated with the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the country’s Communist Party, said the rise of Trump is evidence of an “institutional failure” with the U.S. political and economic systems.

“The rise of Trump has opened a Pandora’s box in U.S. society,” the Global Times editorial stated.

The United States' relationship with South Korea has drawn Trump's ire. The U.S. stations 28,500 military personnel in the country as a part of a pact that is a legacy of the Korean War. U.S.-led United Nations forces defended South Korea against North Korean and Chinese troops during the 1950-53 Korean War. The fighting came to a close with an armistice, but the two sides have never signed a peace treaty to formally end the Korean War.

The South Korean government led by President Park Geun-hye has refrained from diving into the fray. However, South Koreans are among foreign diplomats in Washington privately voicing concerns about a possible Trump presidency, according to a Reuters report. The Republican's comments characterizing Seoul as freeloading off Washington have sparked online outrage in that country.

"South Korea is a money machine. They pay us peanuts," Trump said in a Jan. 6 interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer. Later, he told NBC's "Meet the Press": "We have 28,000 soldiers on the line in South Korea between the madman and them. We get practically nothing compared to the cost of this." South Korea does, in fact, help pay for hosting U.S. troops. As part of a five-year cost-sharing agreement reached two years ago, Seoul agreed to cover more than $866 million, or about 40 percent of total U.S. military costs in South Korea, in 2014, with future payments to rise at the rate of inflation.

Tensions remain high on the Korean Peninsula, where the 38th Parallel remains the most heavily militarized border in the world. In January, North Korea conducted its fourth underground nuclear test in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions banning the regime from nuclear and missile activity. Weeks later, the regime followed with a test of a long-range missile.

"What would happen to the U.S.-South Korean alliance if Trump makes it?" asked one comment posted on a popular South Korean online portal, Naver. "If Trump becomes president, a nuclear bomb will be dropped on North Korea," another netizen speculated. Netizens on Naver have taken to calling the mogul "Teulrimpe" – a mash-up of the Korean word for "wrong" and Trump's name.

"Many Koreans are worried that Donald Trump's election to the White House will deteriorate the U.S.-Korea relationship," says Jisoo Lee, a lawyer and National Assembly candidate. "Throughout his campaign, Mr. Trump seems to indicate that Korea has been receiving benefits at a cost to U.S., which is not true. Our ties are based on mutual benefit and Korea spends billions of dollars every year buying U.S. weapons. He's not taking that into account."

Adds Hyun-Wook Kim, a professor at the Korea National Diplomatic Academy: "He's (Trump) very irrational, emotional and does not really care about consistency in policy. He is very risky."

Latin America: Rejection of 'strident rhetoric'

Back in the Western Hemisphere, Trump's negative statements about immigrants and proposal to build a wall on the Mexican border have sparked significant backlash across Latin America. Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto said last week that there was "no scenario" in which his country would pay for the border fence, as Mr. Trump has demanded. He also warned that public support in the U.S. for Trump's "strident rhetoric" was reminiscent of the political contexts that gave rise to Hitler and Mussolini.

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega said last July that Trump "reflected the ultraconservative, racist, and war-like thinking that is incubated in the roots of the empire." Rafael Correa, Ecuador's left-leaning president, argued in early March that Trump in the White House "would be very bad for the United States." But he also suggested that it could galvanize public support for Latin America's progressive leaders, who are typically more critical of U.S. policies. "His rhetoric is so bumbling, so simplistic, that it would awaken a reaction," Correa said.

One notable exception to Trump's detractors is Argentina's new president, Mauricio Macri, perhaps the leading figure in the political resurgence of Latin America's center-right over the past six months. Mr. Macri has said little about Mr. Trump, except for calling him a "very tough negotiator" during the World Economic Forum in Davos in January. Mr. Trump's son Eric noted in an interview with the Argentine paper La Nación in December that the Trump family has long had social ties with Mr. Macri and his father, Franco. "He's a very good person," the younger Trump said. "It was very interesting to see that he won."

Back in Europe, Trump has received warm words from another leader: Russian President Vladimir Putin. "He's a very colorful and talened man, no doubt about that," Putin said of the American businessman at his annual end-of-the-year news conference.