Former President Donald Trump won the 2024 US presidential election, securing a second term and becoming the 47th president of the United States. Yahoo Finance Senior Columnist Rick Newman analyzes the implications of this victory and the key policy priorities and battles that lie ahead.
The battle for control of the House and Senate will be a central focus given that Trump will need to work with Congress to push some of his policies forward. Newman examines the outlook for inflation, trade policies, immigration laws, and China — all of which are expected to be high-priority issues.
To watch more expert insights and analysis on the latest market action, check out more Morning Brief here.
This post was written by Angel Smith
Well, Donald Trump secures a second term in the White House becoming the 47th president of the United States. To discuss this historic win and the potential role Elon Musk could play in the new administration, uh, Rick Newman is here with us on set. So, Rick, um, what can we realistically expect?
Uh, it a lot of it depends on what happens with the house. We don't know what's going who controls the house yet. Uh, some analysts are giving the house the Democrats a slight edge in the house. That's hugely important because it's the difference between Trump being able to pass any legislation that Republicans want to pass and Democrats basically being able to block. But we know, uh, there are a lot of things that Trump can do without Congress. And, um, the number one focus, uh, I guess today, the number one focus is interest rates and, uh, the expectation of lower taxes or at least not a tax hike, which is why markets look like they're going to have a, uh, a pretty awesome day. But we're going to start talking about tariffs very soon. And, um, most people following Trump think number one, he can do this without Congress because we know he did because he did that in during his first term. Um, and he has indicated that he is going to do, this is going to be like a first day priority. They're going to get started on this right away. Um, so these could be going into effect in, let's say, second, um, second quarter, third quarter of 2025. Um, one of the first things that Trump and his advisors have signaled they will do is they will declare that China is out of compliance with the, uh, I mean, we're going back to, you know, tariff history and Trump one here, but that China's out of compliance with the trade deal, uh, his administration made with China back then, which the Biden administration has not not really enforce has not enforced at all. Um, and Biden of course, did repeal a bunch of tariffs that were not placed on China. He repealed tariffs on Europe, for example. Trump wants to put those tariffs back on and, you know, and by the way, he wants those tariffs to be, um, higher than they were the first time around. And he learned and and Robert Lighthizer, who's his tariff man, um, who's going to be back in this next administration, they learned how to do this the first time. Um, and they're going to do it probably a lot quicker, uh, and a lot more aggressively the next time around.
Is that the case across the board when it comes to his policy initiatives? Just given the fact that it's four years instead of eight? They're focused on.
Um, it's well, again, it depends. What can what can Trump do by himself? But you know, the the other one that we're talking about is deportation. So I mean, I guess the through that I would say, you know, deporting all the migrants, he wants to deport to port migrants, more more migrants than there probably are in the United States. So he tried to do that too during his first term. Um, and, um, you know, one of people, one of the things the analyst say is the tells are who he's going to appoint for key jobs, you know, now those people are going to, Secretary, cabinet secretaries are going to have to get get confirmed by the Senate, but the Republicans are going to control the Senate. So the question is how much leeway are they going to are they going to give Trump there? And the third thing that's on my mind is he also said he would resolve the the Russia Russia's invasion of Ukraine in one day. Um, nobody thinks he's thinks that he can really do that, but he definitely can change US policy with regard to weapons provided for Ukraine. He probably, um, will not seek any additional aid from Congress. So, um, in a way, the biggest losers are of of Trump's victory are Ukrainians.
