Australia's Education Minister Clare and France's Economy Minister Lescure see fuel prices behind the election result, Ontario's Premier Ford holds Trump responsible
Clare hopes for falling petrol prices after the election, Lescure wants to watch whether Trump changes course, Ford calls the result a message to the president.
On 4 November 2026, government members in Australia, France and the Canadian province of Ontario commented on the result of the congressional election. The basis is projections according to which the Democrats win the Senate and the House of Representatives. There is no official final result yet. Two of the three link the result to the cost of petrol.
Australia: hope for falling fuel prices. Education Minister Jason Clare said, according to the live blog of the broadcaster ABC, on the programme News Breakfast (5 November, 7:47 local time, 4 November, 21:47 CET) that the cost of fuel had played a major role in the result. He hoped that fuel prices would now fall. Australia was suffering from the war in the Middle East: “Here in Australia we didn't start the war but are copping it.” The sooner the war ended and the Strait of Hormuz was open again, the better.
France: waiting to see whether Trump changes course. Economy and Finance Minister Roland Lescure, speaking on the broadcaster BFMTV, called the result, according to the agency AFP as quoted by La Libre (14:03 CET, updated 14:45): “une victoire sans appel pour les démocrates” (a clear-cut victory for the Democrats). Trump remained responsible for foreign policy. Either he would recognise that he had to change something, for example on the petrol price, or not. That would have to be followed in the coming days.
Canada: Ontario's Premier sees a message to Trump. Doug Ford, head of government of the province of Ontario, told journalists, according to the broadcaster CP24 (17:54 CET), that he could not be happier about the result: “President Trump has to look in the mirror”. Trump had to take responsibility for the result. According to CP24, Ford has repeatedly opposed Trump's tariffs. The position of the Canadian federal government is in an earlier report.
These are the views of the respective politicians. Further reactions from other countries are under Reports, what the new Congress can do from January is in the timeline.