A few weeks back, it seems that the winner of the U.S Presidential election was a no-brainer. Donald Trump, heavyweight businessman with his empire but no political experience of any kind against Hilary Clinton, with the wealth of political appointments, key among them being appointed Secretary of State as well as elected Senator. The choice seemed clear.
Add to this that his campaign organization was tattered and uncoordinated. He changed campaign managers three times and, unlike typical presidential candidates, refused to open local campaign offices in several states ion the country as is the norm among presidential candidates.
During his campaign, he made so many insulting remarks to foreigners and several controversies trailed his speeches, the plagiarism controversy of his wife Melanie a popular one globally. Going against the grain, he actually made comments suggesting that he would not mind being allies woth Russia, America’s long-tome rival.
Clinton on the hand had a near-perfect campaign with glitches relating to the leaked emails the main controversy in her camp. She did everything a normal presidential candidate would do and all polls said she would win, easily at that.
Against all odds though, Americans have voted Donald Trump to be their 45th President. Early hours today, Trump passed the 270 electoral college votes required to be President and is thus America’s President-Elect. Given his radical outlook on issues relating to international relations, his victory becomes all the more surprising.
The news of his victory is bound to have profound effects on business globally as very few were prepared for this result. It reamins to be seen how markets would actually react to this news.