NEW YORK: Donald Trump has won a stunning victory over Hillary Clinton, wrongfooting investors around the world and defying Republican and Democratic political elites with his populist “Make America Great Again” movement.
The victory by the political outsider, amplified by a Republican sweep of the Senate and House of Representatives, marks a repudiation of Barack Obama that was fuelled by a backlash against globalisation in the wake of the global financial crisis.
The result, which upended the predictions of most pollsters and investors, led to sharp swings in financial markets. The Mexican peso was off 7.8 per cent after tumbling 12 per cent, its biggest drop since the country’s 1994-1995 devaluation crisis.
The US dollar fell 2.5 per cent against the yen and 1.5 per cent against the euro. S&P 500 futures were down 3.4 per cent and gold was up 3.2 per cent. Treasury bond yields tumbled as investors sought out safe assets and marked down the chances of a December rate rise.
Obama called Trump early in the morning to congratulate him on his victory, the White House said, noting that the president-elect had been invited to Washington on Thursday to discuss transition planning.
He was expected to address the nation later today, setting out “steps we can take as a country to come together after this hard-fought election season.”
Trump strode to victory with wins in battleground states, including Ohio and Pennsylvania, propelled by white, working-class “Trump Democrats”. These voters crossed party lines to back a billionaire who vowed to return jobs to America — echoing Ronald Reagan’s victory over Jimmy Carter in 1980.
In his victory speech in New York, the property developer concluded one of the most divisive campaigns in history by calling on the country to come together, as he stressed his intention to be a president for all Americans, whether they had supported him or not.
“Now it is time for America to bind the wounds of division. We have to get together,” he said. “To all Republicans and Democrats and independents across this nation, I say it is time for us to come together as one united people.”
After months of vicious rhetoric against his opponent, Trump congratulated Clinton, who he said had called him to concede, and thanked the former first lady, senator and secretary of state for her years of public service.
“Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time and we owe her a major debt of gratitude for her service to our country. I mean that very sincerely,” he said. Clinton’s campaign said she would speak on Wednesday morning.
“As I’ve said from the beginning, ours was not a campaign, but rather an incredible and great movement,” Trump said. “It’s a movement comprised of Americans from all races, religions, backgrounds and beliefs who want and expect our government to serve the people, and serve the people it will.”
After months of warm comments about authoritarian leaders such as Russian president Vladimir Putin, coupled with threats to downgrade America’s relationships with its allies, Trump tried to assure the world that he would not be the temperamentally unfit commander-in-chief that s Clinton and Obama portrayed him to be.
“I want to tell the world community that while we will always put America’s interests first, we will deal fairly with everyone … all people and all other nations,” said Trump. “We will seek common ground, not hostility; partnership, not conflict.”
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