The election so far as reported in The Irish Times

• Republican candidate and former US president Donald Trump has been declared the 47th president of the United States by the Associated Press and several US networks
• Trump’s decisive victory over Harris came as he won key battleground states including Wisconsin, Georgia, North Carolina and Pennsylvania
• The Republican Party also took majority control of the US Senate, while the House of Representatives remains up for grabs, though Republicans are leading

The US stock market has opened at a new all-time high, as investors react to Donald Trump’s stunning electoral win.

Investors are racing into riskier assets, following the Republicans’ win in the race for the White House, and their taking control of the Senate too.

Bloomberg is calling it a “face-ripping rally”. The S&P 500, the broad index of US stocks, has jumped by 1.9 per cent to a new intraday high.

The Dow Jones industrial average, of 30 large US companies, jumped by 3 per cent to 43,508 points, also hitting a record high while the tech-focused Nasdaq is slightly lagging behind in the face-ripping stakes, up 1.8 per cent.

Investors are betting that Trump’s economic policies will stimulate growth, and also inflation (as new tariffs, tax cuts and immigration curbs are all potentially inflationary). – The Guardian

See the US election night in pictures here.

Europe set for ‘bumpy road’, says former trade commissioner

The European Union is set to face a “bumpy road” over the next four years with Donald Trump returning to the White House, a former EU trade commissioner tells Jack Power.

US president-elect Trump has promised to impose tariffs of up 10-20 per cent on all goods coming into the US from Europe and elsewhere, as well as indicating he would end the Ukraine war, possibly by threatening to withdraw military and financial support for Kyiv.

Cecilia Malmstrom, who served as European commissioner for trade from 2014 to 2019, said she felt Trump would certainly move ahead with threatened tariffs. Small open economies, like Ireland, would be hit harder as big exporters to the US, she said.

Malmstrom was EU trade commissioner during Trump’s first term, when he introduced tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from the EU, which drew retaliatory measures from Brussels.

“He is very angry with Europe … He is also surrounded by a new kind of Maga supporter, the adults in the room seem to be gone,” she said.

The commission, the executive arm of the EU responsible for trade, needed to signal it was ready to “strike back” quickly if Trump levelled tariffs on imports, she said.

However, the greater fear was what would happen if the US withdrew support for Ukraine in its war with Russia, which Malmstrom said would create an “existential threat to Europe”.

One commission source said EU officials had “prepared a reaction plan for all eventualities and we’ll deploy it as necessary, starting with efforts to find common ground with the second Trump administration, where possible”.The US embassy in London, meanwhile, has been targeted by Just Stop Oil activists, following Trump’s win.

Nothing has been said by Kamala Harris, nor her fellow prominent Democrats Joe Biden or Barack Obama since the reality of Donald Trump’s victory was made clear.

Speaking at Howard University on Tuesday night, campaign co-chair Cedric Richmond told gathered supporters that Harris would not be making a speech.

Richmond told those present that the US vice president would speak publicly on Wednesday. She is expected to address supporters early in the afternoon.

Former Republican congresswoman and Trump critic Liz Cheney, has said citizens, the courts, the press and those serving in federal, state and local governments must now be the “guardrails of democracy”.

Voters undo abortion bans in some states, while restrictions remain elsewhere

Voters in Missouri have cleared the way to undo one of the US’s most restrictive abortion bans in one of seven victories for abortion rights advocates while Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota defeated similar constitutional amendments, leaving bans in place.

Abortion rights amendments also passed in Arizona, Colorado, Maryland and Montana.

Nevada voters also approved an amendment but they will need to pass it again it 2026 for it to take effect. Another that bans discrimination on the basis of “pregnancy outcomes” prevailed in New York.

A measure that allows more abortion restrictions and enshrines the state’s current 12-week ban was adopted in Nebraska and a competing one to ensure abortion rights failed. Results were still pending in Montana.

The Missouri and Florida results represent firsts in the abortion landscape, which underwent a seismic shift in 2022 when the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade, a ruling that ended a nationwide right to abortion and cleared the way for bans to take effect in most Republican-controlled states. – Associated Press

Nationalist politicians in Northern Ireland have raised concerns about the impact of Donald Trump’s election victory on the US while unionist leaders have welcomed the “decisive” result, Seanín Graham reports.

SDLP leader Claire Hanna said it was “disheartening” that Trump’s “divisive brand of politics has been so widely endorsed”.

“Donald Trump has repeatedly shown himself as someone with little respect for most people or the high office that he once again holds,” she said.

But DUP leader Gavin Robinson congratulated the 47th American president on “achieving what has rightly been described as the greatest political comeback of all time”.

“Elections can be divisive, as this election has been, but the conclusion has been decisive,” he said.

Mr Robinson expressed hope that the “ties between the US and Northern Ireland remain strong”.

“In President Trump’s last term, the door of the White House was open and indeed many regarded his presidency as one of balance and fairness regarding our own local political divisions. I trust he adopts the same approach to the 47th presidency as he did the 45th.”

Sinn Féin Stormont economy minster Conor Murphy warned that a hike in tariffs on all imports to the US – one of Trump’s campaign proposals – could adversely affect the North’s economy.

“Anything which hinders our ability to trade with a very significant trading partner is not good news, he said.

“Businesses like certainty and if the Trump presidency brings uncertainty that isn’t good news for our companies who do business in the US.”

Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau has joined in congratulating Trump on his victory.

While president in 2018, Trump labelled his Canadian counterpart as “dishonest” and “weak” following G7 meetings.

‘Sad and sobering morning for all progressives’

Europe must strengthen climate action and democracy “to counter far-right autocrats”, the European Green Party has said following Trump’s victory.

The party said Europe must become a beacon of hope and democracy, in response to the US election result, “which poses a profound challenge to global political stability, particularly in Ukraine and the Middle East”.

“With autocrats like Putin in Russia and Trump in the US in power, the European Union will have to stand on its own two feet in terms of support for Ukraine, climate action and the fight for democracy,” the party said in a statement.

European leaders have congratulated Donald Trump on his election to the White House, as EU officials and diplomats privately brace for what will likely be a combative four years, writes Europe Correspondent Jack Power.

In a statement French president Emmanuel Macron told Mr Trump he was “ready to work together as we did for four years. With your convictions and mine. With respect and ambition. For more peace and prosperity”.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz also congratulated Mr Trump on his victory.

“For a long time, Germany and the US have been working together successfully promoting prosperity and freedom on both sides of the Atlantic. We will continue to do so for the wellbeing of our citizens,” he said.

Mr Macron and Mr Scholz also spoke on the phone on Wednesday morning, where the French president said they discussed the need to work towards “a more united, stronger, more sovereign Europe in this new context”.

Giorgia Meloni, the populist right-wing Italian prime minister, offered her “most sincere congratulations” to Mr Trump, while far-right Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban described his election as a “much needed victory for the world”.

Officials in the European Commission have for months now been preparing for how to approach a second Trump term, given he has promised to introduce across-the-board tariffs on imports from abroad, setting the stage for a possible EU-US trade war.

Will Elon Musk join Donald Trump’s new administration?

Elon Musk’s transformation of X, formerly Twitter, into a political machine supporting Donald Trump could see the billionaire rewarded with a place in the president-elect’s new administration.

The SpaceX boss has become Trump’s most vocal fan and one of his biggest financial backers during the US election, which has seen X become an unofficial Republican Party campaign tool.

Musk’s influence has been so stark that, in his speech to supporters on election night in the US after he declared victory, Trump paid a lengthy tribute to Musk, calling him a “star” of the Republican Party and a “wonderful” guy.

Musk has posted relentlessly about his support for Trump to his hundreds of millions of followers in the run-up to the election, claiming the future of civilisation was at stake at the polls.

The Tesla and SpaceX boss has appeared at several Trump rallies, as well as pumping millions of dollars into campaign groups supporting the Republican nominee, and funding controversial sweepstakes in swing states that required people to register to vote and sign a pro-Trump petition in order to be eligible.

Alongside thousands of pro-Trump messages, Musk’s X account, and those of many of his most ardent fans, have also promoted conspiracy theories and misinformation around the key election issues, as well as the Democratic Party and its candidates, often receiving millions of views.

Such has been the swell and relentlessness of the support from Musk that Trump has suggested the tech boss could be given a role in his new cabinet around cost-cutting or government efficiency – a role Musk had previously called to be created to help reduce government spending. – PA

Republicans have taken control of the US Senate and are fighting to keep their majority in the House of Representatives, which would produce a full sweep of power in Congress alongside Donald Trump in the White House.

A unified Republican grip on Washington would set the course for Mr Trump’s agenda or if Democrats wrest control of the House, it would provide an almost certain backstop, with veto power over the White House.

Speaking early on Wednesday at his election night party in Florida, Mr Trump said the results delivered an “unprecedented and powerful mandate” for Republicans.

He called the Senate victory “incredible”.

Vote counting in some races could go on for days, and control of the House is too early to call. – Associated Press

Democrats have now filled 180 seats, while Republicans are at 198. Some 218 seats are needed for control of the House, with 57 yet to be called.