[WATCH] Trump defeats Clinton to stun world and win US presidency

The most historic race for the White House has come to an end, with the United States of America electing its 45th President – Republican businessman Donald Trump.

Trump edged slowly to the victory seat with a series of shocking wins in key states such as Florida and Ohio, rattling world markets that had expected Democrat Hillary Clinton to defeat the political outsider in Tuesday's US election.

Trump surged to wins in Florida, Ohio, Iowa, North Carolina, and Wisconsin. With voting completed across the country, he also narrowly led in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Arizona, pushing him to the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the state-by-state fight for the White House.

In his acceptance speech, Trump confirmed that he had received a call from Hillary Clinton to concede the race, while he congratulated her on a well-fought campaign.

“I just received a call from secretary Clinton. She congratulated us, it’s about us, on our victory, and I congratulated her and her family on a very very hard fought campaign. She fought it very well. Hillary has worked very long and very hard over a long period of time, and we owe her a major debt of gratitude to our country."

Trump pledged that he was going to be a President "for all Americans", adding that it was time for the country to come together for the good of the country.

"Now it’s time for America to bind the wounds of division... I says it is time for us to come together as one united people. I pledge to every citizen of our land that I will be president for all Americans, and this is so important for me. For those who have chosen not to support me... I’m reaching out to you for your guidance and your help so that we can work together to unify our great country.”

Trump described a “national project of renewal,” saying he will gather the best and brightest. “We will double our growth and have the strongest economy in the world. At the same time, we will get along with all other nations willing to get along with us."

“America will no longer settle for anything less than the best. We must reclaim our country’s destiny, and dream big, and bold and daring. I want to tell the world community that while we will always put America’s interests first, we will deal fairly with everyone."

With a series of controversies that would easily have destroyed other candidacies, extreme policies that have drawn criticism from both sides of the aisle, a record of racist and sexist behaviour, and a lack of conventional political experience, Trump's victory revealed deep anti-establishment anger among American voters and set the world on a journey into the political unknown.

Clinton will not give a concession speech

Earlier, Democratic campaign chairman John Podesta appeared before distraught supporters to announce that Hillary Clinton would not be appearing to give a concession speech. “Everybody should head home,” he told them, “Get some sleep. We’ll have more to say tomorrow."

“It’s been a long night and a long campaign,” he added. “We can wait a little longer, can’t we? They are still counting votes and every vote counts, several states are too close to call so we are not going to have anything more to say tonight.”

The markets react

With investors worried a Trump victory could cause economic and global uncertainty, investors fled risky assets such as stocks. In overnight trading, S&P 500 index futures fell 5 percent to hit their so-called limit down levels, indicating they would not be permitted to trade any lower until day-side trading resumed on Wednesday morning.

As the news broke that Trump is now the president-elect of the United States, Japan’s Nikkei has already taken a precipitous drop. According to CNN, Japan's top financial officials huddled amid the 1,000-point plunge in the Nikkei stock market. Markets in the UK and France also dropped and South Korea called a meeting of its National Security Council.

Sovereign bonds, the Japanese yen and gold surged while the Mexican peso went into near free-fall in chaotic trading as once again polls and betting markets proved woefully wrong.

US stock futures dived 5% at one point, worse than the reaction caused by the British vote to leave the European Union in June that wiped trillions of dollars off world markets.

According to Reuters, investors fear a Trump victory could cause global economic and trade turmoil and years of policy unpredictability, which among other things will discourage the Federal Reserve from raising interest rates in December as long expected.

Fed fund futures started to toy with the idea of a cut in rates next year and it was possible the Bank of Japan and European Central Bank might be forced to ease policy yet further.

With FX markets reeling, South Korean authorities were thought to have intervened to steady their currency, and dealers wondered if central banks globally would step in to calm nerves.

Japan's top currency diplomat signaled Tokyo's readiness to intervene if necessary as the surging yen threatened to snuff out its fragile economic recovery.

The scale of the scare was clear in the Mexican peso, which plunged more than 13% against the dollar at one point in the biggest daily move in two decades.

The world reacts

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat tweeted his congratulatory comments to Trump, urging the US and Europe to strengthen their ties.

I congratulate US President elect @realDonaldTrump. Now is the time for Europe and US to get closer to eachother not the other way round -JM

— Joseph Muscat (@JosephMuscat_JM) November 9, 2016

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil also tweeted about the result, saying that the results "will test to the limit our ability to navigate in a world of uncertainty".

The #USElections will test to the limit our ability to navigate in a world of uncertainty. We must rise to the occasion.

— Simon Busuttil (@SimonBusuttil) November 9, 2016

Vladimir Putin has sent Trump a telegram to congratulate Trump, according to the Guardian. The Russian president hopes for joint work to improve US-Russian relations, Russian media reports.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi also reportedly congratulated Trump on his victory Tuesday night.

Trump told Sisi during a meeting in New York in September that: “under a Trump Administration, the United States of America will be a loyal friend, not simply an ally, that Egypt can count on in the days and years ahead.”

The Guardian also reported that a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry said Beijing was looking forward to working with the new administration. “We will work with the new US president to ensure the steady and sound development of bilateral relations so as to benefit the people in both countries as well as around the world,” Lu Kang told reporters at a regular press briefing in the Chinese capital.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also congratulated Trump, Reuters reported.

British Prime Minister Theresa May has released a statement congratulating Trump on his victory in the presidential election, saying:

"I would like to congratulate Donald Trump on being elected the next President of the United States, following a hard-fought campaign. Britain and the United States have an enduring and special relationship based on the values of freedom, democracy and enterprise. We are, and will remain, strong and close partners on trade, security and defence. I look forward to working with President-elect Donald Trump, building on these ties to ensure the security and prosperity of our nations in the years ahead."

UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn took Trump’s election as an opportunity to comment on the current state of politics and the economy.

“Trump’s election is an unmistakable rejection of a political establishment and an economic system that simply isn’t working for most people. It is one that has delivered escalating inequality and stagnating or falling living standards for the majority, both in the US and Britain,” Corbyn said in a statement.

“This is a rejection of a failed economic consensus and a governing elite that has been seen not to have listened. And the public anger that has propelled Donald Trump to office has been reflected in political upheavals across the world.”

While Corbyn admitted that he disagreed with Trump on some issues, he expressed assurance that the US has made a move in the right direction.

“Some of Trump’s answers to the big questions facing America, and the divisive rhetoric around them, are clearly wrong. I have no doubt, however, that the decency and common sense of the American people will prevail, and we send our solidarity to a nation of migrants, innovators and democrats.”

Corbyn said that the need for a real alternative to a “failed economic and political system” could not be clearer.

“That alternative must be based on working together, social justice and economic renewal, rather than sowing fear and division. And the solutions we offer have to improve the lives of everyone, not pit one group of people against another. Americans have made their choice. The urgent necessity is now for us all to work across continents to tackle our common global challenges: to secure peace, take action on climate change and deliver economic prosperity and justice.”

Who is Donald Trump?

Donald Trump, a real estate developer by profession, was born in 1946, in Queens, New York. Following his involvement in several large, profitable building projects in Manhattan, Trump opened the Grand Hyatt in 1980, making him the city's best-known developer.

Trump is also well known in the public eye as the star of the hit NBC reality series The Apprentice.

Trump turned his attention to politics, and in 2015 he announced his candidacy for president of the United States on the Republican ticket. After winning a majority of the primaries and caucuses, Trump became the official Republican candidate for president on July 19, 2016.

Controversial contender

On June 16, 2015, Trump made his White House ambitions official when he announced his run for president on the Republican ticket for the 2016 elections.

Upon Trump's announcement to run for president, his scathing, derogatory remarks about Mexicans and immigration caused NBC to sever business ties with him. “Due to the recent derogatory statements by Donald Trump regarding immigrants, NBCUniversal is ending its business relationship with Mr. Trump,” NBC responded in a statement. "To that end, the annual Miss USA and Miss Universe Pageants, which are part of a joint venture between NBC and Trump, will no longer air on NBC."

The statement added: "In addition, as Mr. Trump has already indicated, he will not be participating in The Celebrity Apprentice on NBC. Celebrity Apprentice is licensed from Mark Burnett's United Artists Media Group and that relationship will continue."  

Among great social outcry, other organizations have withdrawn from associations with Trump as well; the Professional Golfers Association of America pulled plans for its fall Grand Slam tournament to be held at Trump National Golf Club in Los Angeles, while representatives for Macy's announced that the retail chain would no longer carry Trump's menswear collection. 

Trump was one of the ten top candidates who participated in a Fox News presidential debate in early August. While the mogul continued a tone set in earlier appearances, he was critiqued and questioned on everything from his business practices to demeaning, sexist comments made about women via television and social media. Trump later made highly insulting remarks about moderator Megyn Kelly for the nature of her questions, and was hence disinvited from an Atlanta speaking engagement.

Trump maintained a commanding lead over his opponents despite ongoing criticisms and controversies, including his proposal to ban the immigration of Muslims to the United States, an apparent endorsement of waterboarding, and widespread protests at his political rallies, several of which had turned violent. 

Trump also faced controversy over the lawsuits filed against Trump University which accused Trump of fraud, false advertising and breach of contract. Controversy about the suits made headlines when Trump suggested that US District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel, could not be impartial in overseeing two class action cases because of his Mexican heritage. Trump described the judge as “a hater of Donald Trump. . .” 

Later, in a separate incident related to Trump University, it was reported that a Florida Attorney General decided not to join the existing New York fraud lawsuit, just days after she had received a sizable campaign donation from the Donald J. Trump Foundation, a private charity organisation designed to make donations to non-profit groups. 

Trump also courted controversy over the course of his presidential run when he repeatedly said he would not release his tax returns while they were being audited by the Internal Revenue Service. In August 2016, he confirmed that he would not release his tax returns before the November election. It was the first time a major party candidate had not released such information to the public since Richard Nixon  in 1972.