The world took its first steps from the Trump era to the presidency of Joe Biden on Saturday as he claimed victory in the presidential election. The focus among America’s friends and rivals around the world turned to predicting what a Biden administration would mean for their engagement with the United States.

U.S. allies and rivals looked ahead to a Biden White House as Biden crossed the 270-electoral vote threshold with a win in Pennsylvania. It unleashed the normal flood of congratulatory messages and outreach from world leaders. But there were also lingering questions over how well the Biden administration can navigate in a country ideologically split down the middle.

Still, it was a moment of jubilation and optimism for those who felt uneasy with President Trump and his norm-breaking style. Cheers and shouts of “Biden” broke out in Berlin, London, Toronto and other cities. On Twitter, echoing Paris’ mayor, people tweeted out, “Welcome Back, America.”

Many hope the period of American isolationism and country-first populism under Trump will give way to an era of renewed U.S. global leadership and embrace of multilateralism to tackle common challenges.

“It’s good that there are finally clear numbers. We look forward to working with the next U.S. administration,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas tweeted. “We want to invest in cooperation for a transatlantic new beginning, a new deal.”

Frank Bainimarama, the prime minister of Fiji, was among the first to congratulate Biden outright even before the race was formally called, saying in a tweet that they must work together to confront a warming planet and rebuild the global economy.

Hours later, congratulations from world leaders and others – who were watching the vote count unfold over days – were finally uncorked as soon as U.S. media organizations declared Biden the winner. Leaders with diverse views and priorities – from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron to Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – were among the first to share their enthusiasm for working with Biden.

Though Trump has yet to concede, one of his key allies, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, issued Biden his congratulations.

“While some of the processes are still playing out, it is now clear @JoeBiden has won,” British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab tweeted.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, followed suit soon after, congratulating Biden and calling Harris’ Indian heritage “a source of immense pride.” Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi – whom Trump once called his “favorite dictator – also sent his well wishes to Biden.

In Biden’s ancestral hometown in Ireland, a crowd gathered to pop champagne. Harris’ family hometown in southern India – the birthplace of her maternal grandfather – had already been holding celebrations in her honor ahead of the traditional Diwali festival.

Nicola Sturgeon, the first minister of Scotland, hailed “President-Elect Joe Biden and the history-making Vice President-Elect Kamala D. Harris.”

“I want to congratulate the new President Elect of the USA @JoeBiden Joe Biden has been a true friend of this nation throughout his life and I look forward to working with him in the years ahead,” Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin wrote in a nod to Biden’s Irish heritage.

“I heard a Pan-European sigh of relief, when Biden’s victory was called,” said a German member of European Parliament, Reinhard Bütikofer.

News of Biden’s victory broke in Israel just as the Sabbath was lifting and crowds were gathering for what has become a weekly ritual: protesting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu outside of his Jerusalem residence. Some already carried signs reading ” Bibi you are next,” citing Netanyahu’s nickname.

Mehbooba Mufti, an opposition politician in India and former minister of Jammu and Kashmir, tweeted that “their win gives hope to rest of the world that right wing extremism & those who sow division & hatred will sooner or later be relegated to the pages of history like Donald Trump.”

Others continued to focus on the battered image of American democracy – sometimes with open glee.

The People’s Daily China, an official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, pointed to Trump’s earlier comment that he had won with “HaHa” and a laughing emoji.

Hesameddin Ashena, an adviser to Iran’s president, tweeted out that Americans “stood their ground bravely until that coward left.”

While Trump clashed with many world leaders, he also cultivated close relationships with the populists and other allies in countries including Israel, Brazil and Hungary.

“A White House without Trump should bring a less racist world,” tweeted Ahmad Tibi, an Arab member of the Israeli parliament. Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid later tweeted on a congratulations to Biden, as Israelis noted Netanyahu’s absence.

Poland, whose right-wing leader Andrzej Duda has politically aligned with Trump, cautiously tweeted to congratulate Biden “for a successful presidential campaign.”

British Brexit party leader Nigel Farage notably did not congratulate Biden and instead criticized the flow of well wishes. “Four years ago when Trump won, broadcasters showed scenes of people in shock and crying. Today, a Biden declaration shows coverage that would make you think Jesus had returned,” he wrote on Twitter.

The global pandemic added urgency to Biden’s pledge to reverse Trump’s approach, which has left the United States estranged from the World Health Organization and facing the highest numbers of deaths and new cases at home.

After Trump withdrew from the World Health Organization – in protest of what he claim was a bias toward China – Biden this summer pledged to rejoin the U.N.’s health agency on his first day in office. Biden is a “globalist at heart,” wrote Natasha Kassam, a research fellow at Sydney’s Lowy Institute political think tank, in the Guardian.

“When it comes to global public health,” she said, “America has literally left the building.”

Other policies now hang in question. The Times of India, which anticipated Biden’s win with the headline “Bye Don, It’s Biden Finally,” said that H1-B work visas – allowing nonimmigrants to work in the United States – are unlikely to return in their previous scale or numbers, even if the Biden administration has a more favorable immigration policy. But it noted that the Democrats could be stronger on human rights violations in India.

In China, relations with the United States have plummeted to their lowest ebb in 40 years amid bitter disputes over trade, technology, human rights and the coronavirus pandemic. But hopes have been stirred that, despite fundamental differences, a Biden win might act as a circuit-breaker and offer a window for cooperation in certain areas.

Still, an op-ed in the nationalistic Global Times tabloid noted deep partisan divisions in the United States that it said would not be easily eased.

Iranian officials largely have avoided commenting on the election impasse and its possible implications for U.S. policies, like the future of economic sanctions and the fate of the 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by the Obama-Biden administration. Trump withdrew from the pact two years ago and has stepped up sanctions on Tehran.

“For us, the individual and the party are not important; rather, what matters is the policies to be adopted by the U.S. government,” Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Saturday. Rouhani has urged the U.S. to return to its commitments under the nuclear deal, known officially as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and rejected Trump’ calls to renegotiate it.

With Trump still seemingly determined to contest the election results in court, some expressed fears for what he might unleash, even if he eventually concedes.

“The squatter” was the title of the Saturday cover of Der Spiegel, a leading German news magazine. A defiant, fatigue-clad Trump is depicted holding a rifle, barricaded in the Oval Office with a bullet-holed picture of a smiling Biden in the backdrop.

In Britain, the Guardian declared Trump in a “fight against reality,” but noted in an editorial that Biden would have his work cut out to “rebuild the U.S. government’s credibility after Trumpism hollowed out its institutions.”

The Japanese government, meanwhile, warned its nationals in the United States that they may become caught up in election-related violence, and told people to take precautions, including “considering whether it is appropriate to travel to work while protests continue,” according to the Mainichi newspaper.

The Trump brand continued to find support among those on the far right who support Trump’s nativist-driven populism. Farage wrote in an opinion piece that he believed Trump is right to “keep up the fight,” and repeated the president’s untruths that widespread postal voting is problematic and open to fraud.

In Japan, a burger outlet near a U.S. naval base followed a long tradition of naming a burger after every sitting American president by adding the Biden Burger to its menu, according to public broadcaster NHK.

The Biden Burger pays homage to his Scranton, Pennsylvania, roots. It comes with Philadelphia-style cheese and potato chips to represent Pennsylvania, a major chip producer. The Trump Burger has a dash of jalapeño, “supposedly reflecting Trump’s sharp tongue,” NHK wrote.