Harry Harris of "The Skinny" deemed "I Like America &amp; America Likes Me" one of the three standouts from "A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships". He viewed the song as a companion to the 1975's "Love It If We Made It" (2018) that explores the same anxiety, but also a "desire to try and work your way out of it. To try and take some responsibility." Rodriguez praised the track for taking the band's songwriting in an unexpected direction, saying: "Given how both [t]he 1975 and much of the mumble rap class share a love for emo music, it's as if they're bidding farewell to their foundational core before they entirely abandon it." Stubbs called the lyrics "razor-sharp". Maicki opined that the autotune used on Healy's vocals in "I Like America &amp; America Likes Me" serves to emphasizes the futility of the song's message. He did observe a faint amount of hope in the track's desperation, but ultimately felt it "contends that hope is not enough". Barlow wrote: "The song is a shocking reflection of how America's youth feel going to school every day in the year of the Parkland shooting." Shannon Cotton of "Gigwise" said Healy "continues to exercise his well informed perspective on world politics", while comparing the track's synths to the 1975's early EPs.