US election live: Trump prepares to choose top team as Harris tells supporters ‘do not despair’

Analysts say it is hard to separate the president-elect’s bluster from his actual plans but it’s clear his priority is to bin many of Joe Biden’s policies, writes Andrew Roth in this analysis piece:

The US foreign policy establishment is set for one of the biggest shake-ups in years as Donald Trump has vowed to both revamp US policy abroad and to root out the so-called “deep state” by firing thousands of government workers – including those among the ranks of America’s diplomatic corps.

Trump’s electoral victory is also likely to push the Biden administration to speed up efforts to support Ukraine before Trump can cut off military aid, hamper the already-modest efforts to restrain Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza and Lebanon and lead to a fresh effort to slash and burn through major parts of US bureaucracy including the state department.

Trump backers have said he will be more organised during his second term, often dubbed “Trump 2.0”, and on the day after election day US media reported that Trump had already chosen Brian Hook, a hawkish state department official during the first Trump administration, to lead the transition for America’s diplomats.

And yet analysts, serving and former US diplomats and foreign officials said that it remained difficult to separate Trump’s bluster from his actual plans when he takes power in January. What is clear is that his priority is to bin many of the policies put in place by his predecessor.

“I’m skeptical that the transition process will be super-impactful since the natural instinct of the new team will be to toss all of Biden’s foreign policy in the dumpster,” one former senior diplomat said.

“If you go back to 2016, Mexico didn’t pay for the wall. And, you know, it doesn’t look like there was a secret plan to defeat Isis,” said Richard Fontaine, the CEO of the Center for a New American Security thinktank. “Some of these things didn’t turn out the way that they were talked about on that campaign trail and we go into this without really knowing what the president’s proposal will be for all of this – and what he will do.”

South Korean president, Yoon Suk Yeol, spoke with Donald Trump on Thursday and congratulated him on winning the US presidency on the “Make America Great Again” slogan as officials in Seoul worked to prepare for “significant” economic changes, reports Reuters.

Yoon and Trump held a 12-minute phone call and discussed the close security and economic ties of their two countries across all areas, a senior South Korean official said on Thursday.

South Korea’s ambassador to the US also visited Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida to meet with members of the president-elect’s camp, the foreign ministry said.

Trump’s election has renewed attention in South Korea on his “America First” foreign policy plans and how his unpredictable style will play out in his second term, reports Reuters.

Officials worked past midnight on Wednesday to prepare for changes expected from US policies, with the Bank of Korea and thinktanks seeing a potential hit to exports if the US raises tariffs.

Meetings at the trade ministry that began in the hours after Trump’s victory led to back-to-back discussions early on Thursday as South Korea’s economic leaders weighed the impact on exports of potential tariffs.

“Should policy stance that has been stressed by president-elect Trump become realised, the impact on our economy is expected to be significant,” finance minister Choi Sang-mok said at a 7.30am (10.30pm GMT on Wednesday) meeting with trade and foreign ministers.

South Korea would probably suffer less than China, Mexico and the EU, but Asia’s fourth-largest economy could be forced into another renegotiation of its bilateral free trade agreement with Washington, according to Kim Young-gui, an economist at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (KIEP).

Karen Middleton

The Australian prime minister who vowed before the last election to herald a “kinder, gentler parliament” has now hailed Australia’s rowdy, robust and combative style of political debate as proof of a functioning democracy, warning “only dictatorships pretend to be perfect”.

In remarks to a global democracy conference in Sydney a day after the United States returned Donald Trump to the presidency eschewing warnings about his autocratic style, Anthony Albanese suggested the adversarial tendencies of the Westminster political system were “a virtue, not a flaw”.

“A fierce contest can be a good thing, as long as it’s a contest about substance, about things that matter to people and issues that affect the country,” Albanese told the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, in a speech distributed in advance.

Nimo Omer

For today’s First Edition newsletter, my colleague Nimo Omer spoke with Guardian US live news editor Chris Michael about what a Donald Trump presidency might look like. Here’s a snippet:

“Autocrats are rejoicing,” Chris says about Trump’s victory. “That probably tells you all you need to know”. Trump has on many occasions praised Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, and the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un. His admiration for other strongman leaders such as Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, China’s Xi Jinping and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is well documented and long held.

Trump has said that he would end Russia’s war in Ukraine “in one day”, though he has not provided specific details on how. Expectations are that Ukraine will see a significant reduction in military aid from the US – the Trump team have made clear they have no intention of indefinitely maintaining commitment to Kyiv as the war continues to drag on.

China warned on Thursday there would be “no winners in a trade war” after the re-election in the US of former president Donald Trump, who has pledged huge new tariffs on Chinese imports.

“As a matter of principle, I would like to reiterate that there will be no winners in a trade war, which is also not conducive to the world,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

Iran on Thursday called Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election an opportunity for the United States to reassess past mistakes, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

“We have very bitter experiences with the policies and approaches of different US governments in the past,” foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA, adding Trump’s win was a chance “to review previous wrong policies”.

Donald Trump has won the election, with 295 electoral college votes, out of 270 needed for victory, and some states – the swing states of Nevada and Arizona – still to be called. Every swing state called so far has gone to Trump. Trump is also ahead in the popular vote, with 51% to Harris’s 48%.

The Republicans also have control over the senate, after picking up three members.

The House is still in play, with neither the Republicans nor the Democrats holding the 218 members needed to gain control of the chamber. The Republicans are however ahead, with 206 House representatives.

The full results are here:

Libby Brooks

The sun is pressing through the low grey clouds above Turnberry beach in Ayrshire where Alan Ringrose is walking his dog. He shakes his head at the emerging news from across the Atlantic.

“I think America’s gone mad,” he says. “How can you elect a criminal as president?”

Disbelief is his overriding emotion as the reality of a second Trump presidency sinks in. “I don’t get it. Perhaps people were afraid to elect a black woman?”

Ringrose, who cares for the local bowling green in his retirement, gestures across the dunes to the terraced lawns of the five-star Trump Turnberry hotel. It is one of two luxury golfing resorts owned by the president-elect in Scotland; the other is in Aberdeenshire. “He has done a lot for the area, but as a politician …” Ringrose trails off.

Further down the windswept beach, Elizabeth Cogan is taking her jack russell Molly for a stroll. She is also quick to acknowledge the investment Trump has made in the local economy. But as a world leader? “It’s a total disaster: he’s a fascist, he’s against women, he’s homophobic, he’s racist. It is a shock because I thought people would have come to their senses and realised what kind of man he is.

Japanese prime minister Shigeru Ishiba hopes to meet US president-elect Donald Trump in the United States this month, four sources said, in an attempt to emulate then-prime minister Shinzo Abe’s close ties during Trump’s first term.

The US is Japan’s most important economic and security partner, while Tokyo is a key Washington ally in Asia, providing bases that allow it to keep a large military presence on China’s doorstep.

Ishiba told reporters he had held a five-minute phone call with Trump on Thursday morning Japan time and that they agreed to meet as soon as possible.

“I felt that he was very friendly. So from now on, I have the impression that we can talk frankly,” he said.

Three of the people familiar with the planning, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter, said Japan was aiming to arrange a meeting between Ishiba and Trump just after a 18-19 November summit of the Group of 20 large economies in Brazil. The fourth source said Japan was aiming to arrange the stopover “around” the G20 meeting.

Trump’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

It is approaching 1am US Eastern Time. Here is where things stand on Thursday:

• Trump has won every key swing state that has been called – Georgia, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Nevada and Arizona haven’t been called yet but appeared to be leaning Republican.

• Republicans now have a Senate majority, which will give Trump far more leverage to enact his legislative agenda and, crucially, confirm judicial and executive nominees.

• Control of the US House of Representatives remains unclear, with many of the most competitive races still uncalled.

• Joe Biden, who ended his campaign for a second term in July and endorsed Kamala Harris, only to see her lose to Donald Trump yesterday, paid tribute to his vice-president in a just-released statement.

• Donald Trump’s campaign said the president-elect had spoken to Joe Biden, and accepted his invitation for a meeting to discuss transitioning between administrations at the White House.

• Initial analysis suggests that Black women remain the most reliable Democratic voters while Harris suffered significant losses among both Latino women and men.

• Special counsel prosecutors will shut down their criminal cases against Donald Trump before he takes office, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter.

• Abortion rights supporters celebrated a handful of victories on Tuesday night, as several states voted to enshrine protections for the procedure into their constitutions.

• Trump has received calls and congratulations from across the globe, including from Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Benjamin Netanyahu.

• The Obamas, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and other high-profile Democrats and progressives have released statements addressing the stunning loss.

• The former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, who is now ambassador to the US, has deleted social media posts critical of president-elect Donald Trump to avoid the comments “being misconstrued”, officials confirmed.

• The House speaker, Mike Johnson, is running for re-election, he announced in a letter late on Wednesday, and the House majority leader, Steve Scalise, is running for his position again. In his own letter, Scalise outlined the Republicans’ plans for their first 100 days in government. The priorities include, “lock in the Trump tax cuts”, “unleash American energy” and “surge resources to the southern border”, among other measures, Scalise writes.

• Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday said Beijing and Washington must find a way to “get along” in a message to Trump, state media said.

• Taiwan will help companies relocate production from China given the likely large impact on them from tariffs Trump has promised to impose on the country, Economy Minister Kuo Jyh-huei said on Thursday.

Pippa Crerar

Back to how the UK government has prepared for Trump’s win: in opposition, several senior Labour MPs had vociferously criticised Trump, including David Lammy, now the foreign secretary, who labelled him a “neo-Nazi sympathizing sociopath” and “a racist KKK and Nazi sympathizer”. Many of them also opposed the then president addressing parliament while in the UK on a state visit.

But when it became clear that Trump was going to run again, Starmer instructed his aides to start repairing relations. “We all knew this election was coming and there was only one of two outcomes. The courting of both sides has been going on for a long time,” one insider said.

The civil service had also maintained relationships. Karen Pierce, the British ambassador in Washington, was in post last time Trump was in the White House and she and her team had stayed in close contact with Mar-a-Lago.

Whitehall also had four years of experience and contacts from that time, all there for Starmer to draw on when he arrived at No 10. “We feel far better prepared this time than last time round,” one official said.

It was Pierce who set up the call between the prime minister and Trump after the first assassination attempt on the Republican candidate during the election campaign. Officials had suggested writing a note, but Starmer wanted to speak to Trump in person.

She was also instrumental in arranging the dinner between the two men at Trump Tower in New York when the prime minister was at the UN in September. Trump was particularly interested in Labour’s election success in the “red wall”, perhaps seeing parallels with the US rust belt states.