Donald Trump has declared himself the new president-elect of the US, beating Kamala Harris in the race to become the 47th president.
Trump’s Republican Party became the first to reach the 270 votes as official state counts were declared.
The businessman had vowed to run for president once more in November 2022 and was named as the Republican Party’s official presidential candidate over the summer.
He was elected as president in 2017, serving a term before losing to Joe Biden in 2020’s election.
Currently the president-elect, Trump and vice president JD Vance will be officially inaugurated in Washing D.C on January 6.
SpaceX and Tesla billionaire Elon Musk and rapper Kanye West are among Trumps’ outspoken, high-profile supporters.
From maintaining federal government’s bitcoin reserves to cracking down on immigration, here’s the changes President-Elect Trump has promised in his 2024 campaign.
Cryptocurrency
Trump, who has only recently voiced his support for crypto, has vowed to position the US as the ‘crypto capital of the planet’ during his campaign.
At a cryptocurrency conference in July, he pledged some major changes, including ensuring the federal government never sells off its bitcoin holdings. He will also strive to maintain the current level of bitcoin holdings that the US has amassed from seizing assets from financial criminals.
Bitcoin’s value jumped by 10 percent to a record high of more than $75,000 on Wednesday morning (November 6), toppling its previous record of just under $74,000 recorded in March.
Financial analysts predict Bitcoin could end the year at $125,000 after Trump’s election win, although the market is known for being incredibly volatile.
Trump has vowed to make the US the ‘crypto capital of the planet’ (Costfoto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Taxes and the economy
Trump claims he will ‘end inflation’ but didn’t explain how this would actually be achieved. He also says he’d lower interest rates – although he can neither set nor control them.
The President-Elect also says he will up taxes on imports while cutting taxes worth trillions of dollars, all while deporting undocumented immigrants.
Justifying the tax cuts, he said it will be paid for through growth and the import tax.
Women’s rights
The US Supreme Court justices who infamously helped to overturn the historic Roe v Wade judgement in 2022 – resulting in 20 states bringing in strict abortion laws – were appointed by Trump.
Having called these laws as a ‘beautiful thing to watch’, Trump has said he will not push for a direct federal abortion ban.
During the campaign, Trump said he will give all women free IVF treatment for those who are struggling to become parents.
Trump and his wall (SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)
Immigration
Remember when Trump vowed to build a wall along the USA’s border with Mexico? Well, he’s wanting to bring it back after the 2016 flagship policy was left incomplete when he was beaten by Joe Biden in 2020.
He could use the Insurrection Act to achieve it, which would give him the power to use the US Army to control the border.
On a similar note, Trump has his sights set on the ‘largest deportation programme in history’.
As many as 11 million people could be removed from the country under Trump’s brutal new programme, costing $968 billion according to a report from the American Immigration Council.
Trump’s controversial ‘Muslim travel ban’ is also back on the cards, banning people from several countries in the world which have a majority of Muslim people living there.
Foreign policy
Trump spent a lot of the campaign saying how global conflicts have grown since he lost to Biden in 2020.
On Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he has promised to reassess the US’s approach to the conflict, with the Americans providing huge aid to Ukraine under the Biden administration. He has promised to end the conflict, without revealing how he might do this.
On Israel’s growing conflicts in the Middle East with the likes of Gaza and Iran, Trump has been critical of tactics used by Israel in achieving its aims. Regarding protests in the US from those supporting Palestine, Trump has threatened to strip ‘radical anti-American and anti-Semitic’ foreign students of their visas if they take part in these.
Environment
While previously slamming climate change as an ‘expensive hoax,’ Trump has at least committed to cleaner air and water for the nation.
He is set to halt offshore wind power farms, claiming they ‘kill whales and birds’ and has also suggested opening up the USA’s oil industry in a move he says could ‘make American affordable again’.