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SCMP Reporters





This live blog has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Get faster notifications on the latest updates by downloading our app.
Former president Donald Trump has claimed victory in Tuesday’s US election, with key wins in North Carolina, Georgia, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
After taking an early lead, he swept Democratic contender Kamala Harris aside to secure another four-year term.
Read on for all the latest developments.


More from our coverage of the election
– As US election comes to a close, 1 thing is certain: more tariffs on China
– Philippines-US ties to stay firm regardless of election outcome: analysts
– In the Middle East, gloom is the only certainty after US election
Reporting by Robert Delaney, Finbarr Bermingham, Kahon Chan, Bochen Han, Ralph Jennings, Kinling Lo, Josephine Ma, Mark Magnier, Igor Patrick, Khushboo Razdan, Dewey Sim, Kawala Xie, Ziwen Zhao, Laura Zhou, Orange Wang and Jeffie Lam.


China sets yuan reference rate to 14-month low as Trump win piles on the pressure

Trump might cut aid to Africa but bankroll projects ‘aimed at displacing China’

Trump rewards Elon Musk with leading role in new ‘Department of Government Efficiency’

Trump taps Fox News host Pete Hegseth for defence secretary, John Ratcliffe to lead CIA

US presidential election 2024

US election: world braces for uncertainty as Trump storms back to the White House – as it happened

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has the Electoral College votes he needs to take the White House. Photo: Reuters

News

China

Diplomacy

World

US Elections

World leaders say they want to work with the United States, but many are preparing for turbulent times


World leaders say they want to work with the United States, but many are preparing for turbulent times.


Donald Trump

Kamala Harris

US Politics

Joe Biden

US-China relations

Joe Biden’s China policy

United States

US presidential election 2024: Asia impact

Live

“Get out the vote” efforts are continuing up until polls close, with campaign organisers knocking on doors to make sure every possible supporter casts a ballot.
Voter turnout rather than persuasion has been a key focal point of both campaigns in the days leading up to November 5.
2020 saw the highest voter turnout percentage for any national election since 1900, with roughly two-thirds of eligible voters taking part. It also saw records broken for minority populations: according to the US Census, a record 59 per cent of non-Hispanic Asians came out to vote in 2020, compared to 49 per cent in 2016.
The first polls close at 6pm Eastern time. At 10pm Eastern time, Nevada will be the last of the key swing states to close its polls.


Getting out the vote

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger confirmed on Tuesday that a bomb threat was made against a polling place in his state, stating that the threat was of Russian origin and not credible.
Raffensperger later clarified that the threat affected between five and seven precincts in multiple Georgia counties.


Georgia bomb threat

Election Day voting has unfolded largely smoothly across the nation except for “scattered reports of extreme weather, ballot printing errors and technical problems causing delays”, according to Associated Press.
Outstanding issues occurring by midday were “largely expected routine and planned-for events”, Cait Conley, senior adviser to the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, said in a briefing.
Conley added that the agency was not currently tracking any national, significant incidents affecting election security.


Voting snarls so far ‘largely expected’


Trump told reporters after casting his ballot that he’s not sure whether he’ll declare victory on election night, as he did in 2020, and acknowledged the possibility he could lose.
During a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday, the former president demanded that the race be called shortly after the polls close on Tuesday night.
This is a pattern he set in 2020, when he declared victory in the early morning after Election Day, three days before the race was called by national networks.
The last polls, in Alaska, close at 1am ET. Voters who are still in line when the polls close are still allowed to cast their ballot.
Vote counting varies from state to state, but many early and absentee ballots will not be processed until after the polls close. Election call times have varied in recent elections, with the 2012 and 2016 elections called hours after polls closed.


Will Trump declare victory?

In the swing state of Michigan, Kent County clerk Lisa Posthumus Lyons issues assurances that “we’ve tested all of our equipment to ensure it’s functioning properly, and our election will be accurate,” adding, “We have a plan in place to ensure the safety of our voters and election workers.”
“We’re just encouraging people to take the time, make the time, and get out and vote,” she says.
Joel Handrop, the clerk who oversees election activities in the Kent County city of Grand Rapids, says, “Elections are very much a people process”.

“While I can’t prevent every possible issue, we can plan our response and address problems if they arise,” he says.
An election staff member in Grand Rapids adds: “Everything on our end has gone smoothly, and we’ve visited several precincts with no issues.”
Polling stations in Kent County opened at 8am on Tuesday across 72 precincts. After polls close at 8pm, the results will be transported to the County Administration Building, where they will be received by the county clerk and the chief judge of the Probate Court.
Election volunteers at a polling station in the city say that there has been a steady flow of voters since morning and that they expect a good turnout. Lyons says she was expecting a 72 to 75 per cent turnout. In 2020, 72 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots, breaking the previous record.

Kent County is the fourth largest in Michigan. Once a Republican stronghold in the state’s western region, recent trends show a shift toward the Democratic Party.
Donald Trump won the county in 2016 by a narrow margin, but it was reclaimed by Joe Biden in 2020. Polls now show a close race between Kamala Harris and Trump.
About 30 per cent of Kent County’s nearly 600,000 residents live in Grand Rapids and more than 80 per cent are non-Hispanic white.


On the ground in Michigan

Ground-floor windows on SCMP’s Washington bureau building, and others in the downtown area, are boarded up.
Some businesses in the capital city have taken precautions in case election-related protests turn violent, but the majority – especially outside of the city core – are not taking this measure.
Otherwise, DC central K Street corridor appears calm, albeit more thinned out than usual for a Tuesday afternoon, as many offices are letting staff work from home.





Boarded up windows in Washington


When will we find out who won the election? Over the past few decades, the world has become accustomed to learning the results of US elections fairly quickly. With the exception of 2000, most presidential races have been called late in the night after the polls have closed on Election Day or in the early morning hours of the day after.
That was not the case with the 2020 pandemic-driven surge in mail ballots, which different states counted at different speeds. That year, it took the Associated Press four days to unofficially declare Joe Biden the winner.
The timeline this year depends on swing-state margins and local election laws. Many states prohibit counting mail ballots before Election Day. Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, for example, began counting those ballots when their polling places opened this morning.
Nevada presents another challenge. While the state allows early ballots to be counted, local laws also accept vote-by-mail ballots postmarked on Election Day, so results there may be delayed until the weekend.
Trump has never won Nevada, but Democrats have only narrowly secured its six electoral votes in those races. Biden won the state in 2020 by 33,000 votes out of 1.4 million cast, capturing 50.06 per cent to Trump’s 47.67 per cent.
Legal challenges over disputed ballots could further extend the timetable. Both parties might contest unclear ballots in court, with appeals possibly reaching the US Supreme Court - which happened in 2000. Such scenarios could delay the final outcome by days, if not weeks.


When will we know?

How are votes counted? What is the Electoral College and when does it vote? Who makes the calls that matter? When did we know the winner in the last general election? You’ll find quick refresher on all of the above here.


When does the Electoral College vote?

Polling guru Nate Silver gives Harris a razor-thin lead against Trump in his final forecast for the 2024 election on Tuesday, swinging from his previous calls for the former president.
According to the forecast, Harris wins the Electoral College in 50.015 per cent of the 80,000 simulations run, which Silver notes is twice as many simulations as he typically runs.
Silver says the model’s polling average is within 1.2 percentage points in six of seven swing states, with Arizona being the only battleground state “with something resembling a clear lead” for Trump.


Nate Silver’s call swings to Harris


Election officials, particularly in the most heavily contested swing states, are urging US voters to be patient.
In closely contested races, the outcomes take longer. In 2020, the Associated Press – widely regarded as the gold standard for calling an outcome – determined Democrat Joe Biden’s victory some four days after the polls closed. Counting can be slowed by state rules on when absentee votes can be counted and processed.


Election officials urge patience

“Swing states” will decide the election.
Most of the 50 US states and the District of Columbia have established voting patterns – either Republican or Democratic. But a handful of swing states are notable for their penchant for switching between political parties, which is why they command so much attention in election cycles.
This reflects the relatively even strength of both parties in those states, influenced by the candidates and key issues in each election cycle.
Read here to learn about each of them.


Swing states and their quirks


Major US stock indices rose on Tuesday as Americans turned out to vote in large numbers. The S&P 500 closed up 1.2 per cent, the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 1.4 per cent and the Dow Jones Industrial Average added about 1 per cent, up 427 points.
Trump Media & Technology Group shares, however, seen by some as a predictor of the former president’s electoral chances, lost 1.1 per cent on Tuesday.
Stocks on the last five presidential election days, extending from 2004, have all closed in positive territory.
This year has been particularly robust for stocks, pushing the broader market to all-time highs, even though surveys suggest many voters do not believe the US economy is going in the right direction.
With a gain of about 20 per cent, 2024 has posted the best first 10 months of a presidential election year since 1936, Bespoke Investment Group reports.
The average return for the S&P 500 Index in US presidential election years between 1928 and 2016 was 15.3 per cent when a Republican was elected and 7.6 per cent for Democrats.
Of the 23 election years since 1928, when the S&P index was launched, 19 showed returns in the black.
“Reminder that stocks historically tend to go up no matter who is in the White House,” says Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist at Carson Group. “It isn’t about red, it isn’t about blue, it is about green.”


Taking stock on Election Day

Harris must prevent Trump from breaching the “Blue Wall”, as he did in 2016, in order to win. These days, the “Blue Wall” really just refers to the three states Trump flipped then: Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, a total of 44 electoral college votes.
In doing so he secured 306 electoral college votes to defeat Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, even though Clinton won the national popular vote by nearly 2.9 million.
Read our explainer on this for more.


What is the ‘Blue Wall’?

Voters in Michigan’s key Kent County remain sharply divided as Election Day unfolds.
Several residents offer their thoughts outside a polling station in Grand Rapids, the state’s second-largest city. Since 1pm, the turnout has surged.
Liz DeMeig, 39, expresses strong support for Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, praising her “integrity” and calling her running mate, Tim Walz, “a gem” who’s “killing the memes”.
“I think they genuinely care about what happens to people, and that’s what matters most,” she says. “I’d be very, very sad if Harris loses to Trump.”

Sophie, 18, a first-time voter who received a round of applause from poll workers, says she was excited to vote based on her personal religious views.
“I’m not very happy with our government and how it’s affecting our culture,” she says, adding: “I’m really scared about illegal immigration and national security.”
David, 67, also supports Harris: “I’m more worried about the far-right than the far-left, and Trump scares me.” He adds, however, that “Whatever the outcome, we’ll accept it and move on.”
Don Ward, a 41-year-old Grand Rapids resident who moved to the city two decades ago, says he voted for Harris. For him, education and the “direction of our nation” were key issues, along with the abortion debate.
“No one else has the right to tell a woman what she should do with her body, especially in cases like incest or rape,” he says.
Sarah Smith, 68, is confident Harris has a good chance of defeating Trump. “I’ve heard nothing but hate from him, and it scares me,” she says.
Referring to Trump’s recent remarks in Grand Rapids, she adds: “‘We’re not going to take this, and we’re not going to surrender.’ That scares me, because that’s the same rhetoric he used four years ago, and we saw what happened on January 6 [2021].”
Sawsay, an immigrant from Myanmar who moved to the US with his wife and two toddlers, says he plans to vote for Trump, and believes that the Republican candidate will bring much-needed jobs to the country.


Kent County, Michigan voter voices


Donald Trump’s former lawyer and ex-New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani arrives in a 1980 SL500 Mercedes-Benz blue convertible with grey leather seats at the same polling site in Palm Beach, Florida, where Trump votes.
The problem? A court had ordered him to turn over the car he is riding in – along with a Manhattan penthouse, 26 watches and the cash in a checking account – to two Georgia election workers by October 29 as part of a US$148 million defamation suit he lost to them last year.
Giuliani was found guilty by a Washington federal judge of abusing and harassing the workers over false claims they had interfered in the 2020 election in Georgia, a state that continues to swing in this election. Giuliani has since been disbarred from practising law in New York or Washington.
On Monday, a federal judge in New York, where Giuliani’s US$6 million flat is located, ordered the former mayor to appear in person on Thursday after the two election workers accused Giuliani of trying to hide his assets.
Their complaint follows a recent visit they made to the flat, his most valuable listed asset, to find much of the art, furniture and sports memorabilia that is due as part of the settlement missing. In court filings, the election workers characterised Giuliani’s approach to the bankruptcy judgment as one of “evasion and silence”.


Giuliani’s ‘evasion and silence’

In a predominantly African-American neighbourhood of nearly 4,000 people in Michigan’s Kent County, abortion, immigration and race are among the key concerns for voters.
For Sherry Beckford, a 61-year-old Black woman, race is central because, in her view, “Trump is racist”. She argues that African-American men supporting the Republican nominee are “uneducated about what he really stands for” and don’t bother to research his record.
Beckford cast her vote for Harris, believing “she’ll do a better job than Trump ever could”.
Ray Brown, a 57-year-old Jamaican immigrant, longs for the positive vibe of having a woman at the helm of the country’s affairs. “The only thing a man can do is just support your wife and girlfriend or friend,” he says, adding that men have no business making decisions about women’s bodies.
Despite the state securing abortion access through a public referendum in 2022, the issue remains a hot-button topic in Michigan throughout this election cycle.
The issue of reproductive rights is on Sierra Cornett’s mind, too. She is one of the 400 or so people in the neighbourhood that have turned out so far to vote in person.
“The rights to my own body … one candidate supports them and one candidate wants to take them away,” says the 26-year-old, who teaches children of mostly Hispanic immigrants in Kent County.
“A lot of my kids this week did come to school and ask me if they were going to be deported if Trump won,” many of whom were only six years old, says Sierra with a wry smile.


Abortion, immigration and race drive Michigan voters

Some polls have started to close, so far only in the midwestern states of Indiana and Kentucky, which are certain to go to Trump.
The remaining polls in those states will close at the top of the next hour (7pm ET), along with those in South Carolina, Vermont and Virginia.
Several polling stations in Georgia, a key swing state, had their voting hours extended to beyond their original 7pm ET closing time due to bomb threats that were later deemed noncredible.


First polls close

Both parties will be watching three Rust Belt states closely: Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. These states have a combined 44 electoral votes, which could be decisive for either candidate.
All three voted Democratic for 24 years until 2016, when Donald Trump narrowly swept them for the Republican Party. In 2020, Joe Biden reclaimed all three, also by narrow margins, for the Democrats.
This time, most polls show Harris slightly leading in Wisconsin and Michigan, while Pennsylvania remains too close to call. Given the tight national race, delayed vote counts in those states could determine when we learn who the winner is.
But history offers another clue: the three states haven’t split their votes since 1988, when Republican George H.W. Bush lost Wisconsin but won Pennsylvania and Michigan en route to defeating Democrat Michael Dukakis.


Eyes on ‘Rust Belt’ states

The first national exit polls suggest that American voters are deeply concerned about the state of the country’s democracy and economy.
A NBC exit poll asks voters after they cast their ballots what matters most to them, and 35 per cent say democracy, while 31 per cent say the economy. Other issues include abortion and immigration.
The NBC poll also shows that democracy is the issue that matters the most to Harris voters while the economy matters the most to Trump’s voters.
Exit polls from CNN and NBC both show 43 per cent of the voters saying they are “dissatisfied” about the way things are going in the country.
The CNN poll shows 54 per cent of those asked say inflation is causing their family “hardship”.


Early exit polls released


Kent County, which shifted from Trump in 2016 to Biden in 2020, is now seen as one of the key areas that could decide the 2024 election.
The county’s clerk, Lisa Posthumus Lyons, says she remains “very optimistic” about the results coming much more quickly than in 2020. “We are not going to sacrifice accuracy and security for speed,” she adds.
Unofficial results are expected to begin updating on the county’s official website shortly after polls close at 8pm ET.
In addition to the presidential race, all eyes are on Michigan’s US Senate contest between Democratic candidate Elissa Slotkin and Republican challenger Mike Rogers.


Michigan’s Kent County clerk says accuracy over speed

Abortion and reproductive health remain a key issue in the election as 10 states vote on whether to guarantee access to the procedure in their constitutions, with Vice-President Kamala Harris running aggressively on the issue - part of her strong appeal to female voters.
Though they are separate state-level actions and not part of national campaigns, ballot measures on contentious issues are often seen as a way to bolster support for candidates and bring out voters who might otherwise stay home.
That explains in part why abortion opponents have worked this election cycle to block abortion rights measures on state ballots while supporters have fought to keep them.
Some 22 US states now ban or sharply restrict abortion, while the procedure is broadly legal in the other 28.
A poll by health policy group Kaiser Family Foundation last month found that 39 per cent of women under 30 viewed it as their top electoral issue, even above inflation – double Kaiser’s June poll on the same issue.
Six of the red and purple states where the issue is on the ballot — Arizona, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Nebraska — are considering measures that would allow abortion until fetal viability, around 24 weeks.



States voting on abortion

Chinese netizens have been monitoring the US presidential election, which has been a trending topic on the X-like Sina Weibo site since the US public started voting.
In various social media, there has been meticulous analysis of polls in key states and debates on potential policies should Trump or Harris take over the White House.
However one sentiment is commonly shared: preparing for a tough time in US-China relations. A post that’s gained support reads: “For us, regardless who wins, China is poised to be primary target. So do not harbour any illusions.”


Chinese netizen reactions

Once taken for granted as staunchly Democrat, the loyalties of American minority voters are changing, and that could be a key factor in this election.
Read more about it here.


Minority votes count more than ever


Both Harris and Trump vow to tackle the economy and inflation, while also preventing China from undercutting American industries.
Trump says he would “end inflation”, which already cooled to a pre-pandemic 2.4 per cent in October. He has proposed further tax cuts for corporations and replacing individual income tax with tariffs, including a 60 per cent tariff on Chinese imports as well as a universal duty on all imports.
The former president has argued these moves would create more jobs and reduce the federal deficit.
But economists have found that his tariff plans, in general, would have a negative effect on the US economy as well as pose significant geopolitical repercussions.
In September, the Tax Foundation, a Washington-based think tank, estimated that the 10 per cent universal tariff and 60 per cent Chinese import tariff would reduce the US GDP by roughly 0.8 per cent. American allies have been uneasy about Trump’s tariff plans, with the European Union warning of retaliation.
Harris has promised a big tax cut for the middle class. She has also said she “will not tolerate unfair trade practices” by China that undercut American workers.
The vice-president is largely expected to continue Biden’s approach, keeping Trump’s tariffs in place and targeting competitive areas such as semiconductors and clean-energy products with more tariffs, as well as strengthening American competitiveness in these industries.


Where Harris and Trump stand on the economy and trade

US media have made the first state calls of the night: Indiana (11 electoral votes) and Kentucky (8 EVs) for Trump, and Vermont (3 EVs) for Harris.
These results were expected. Stay tuned for the key swing state races.


First calls - Indiana, Kentucky, Vermont


In the final hours before Election Day, Trump commended his Muslim supporters in Michigan, stating: “They want peace. They really do. They don’t want to be in wars.”
Biden’s strong backing of Israel during its military operations in Gaza and neighbouring Lebanon has left many Arab-descent voters in Michigan feeling frustrated.
Michigan is home to the largest Arab-American population in the country, comprising four per cent of the state. While historically a strong Democratic voting bloc, the community has strenuously opposed America’s military support for Israel against Hamas.
The Arab-American community is anticipated to lean towards third-party candidates this election, and they could sway the results in a closely contested race.
Alongside Harris and Trump, Michigan’s presidential ballot features third-party candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jnr –who exited the race and threw his support behind Trump – Jill Stein and Cornel West, among others.
Earlier this year, a national Arab-American conference held in Dearborn featured both Stein and West, highlighting the community’s engagement with alternative political options amid the Gaza conflict.
In June, Trump spoke about third-party candidates, saying: “Cornel West, he’s one of my favourite candidates,” adding: “I like Jill Stein also, I like her very much. You know why? She takes 100 per cent from [Democrats].”
An ad campaign by the the Democratic National Committee in Michigan last month claimed that voting for Stein or West would effectively mean supporting Trump.


Will third-party candidates in Michigan cost Harris?

In Vietnam, the VnExpress International news website quoted Australian and Indian foreign ministers on Tuesday as saying they were confident that the Washington-allied Quadrilateral Security Dialogue would keep working together in the Indo-Pacific region regardless of the US presidential election outcome.
The Quad, as it is widely known, comprises the US, India, Australia and Japan.
Beijing sees the Quad as aimed at checking Chinese activities in the disputed South China Sea. Vietnam has its own maritime dispute, in the same sea, with China.


Vietnamese media: any election result means US-led Quad will continue

Most polls in Georgia, with its 16 electoral votes, are the first to close in a swing state. But voting is continuing there in some 16 precincts, according to local media.
They are going beyond the planned closure time of 7pm ET because of bomb threats that interrupted voting earlier in the day.
Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger attributes those threats to Russian interference and says they are bogus.


Georgia still voting due to bomb threats

Chinese leaders don’t care who wins the US election because either candidate would be tough for Beijing, according to an Asian studies scholar.
“Both of them, Trump and Harris, are in fact trying to stop the rise of China by whatever means,” says James Chin of the University of Tasmania in Australia.
“The only difference is that Trump will tell the world what he is doing to block the rise of China. Harris is a bit more diplomatic.
“I think the Chinese leadership understands that the American political elite sees the rise of China as the greatest threat to American leadership to control the world since the second world war.
“So my take is that the Chinese leadership has written off the election. There will be more trade wars, whether a cold trade war or a hot trade war under Trump.”


China doesn’t care who wins the US election: Asia scholar

Trump has won West Virginia for the third straight presidential election cycle, according to the Associated Press. That gives him four more Electoral College votes, raising his early lead over Harris to 23-3.
Republican Jim Justice also flipped a US Senate seat in the state, as expected. The seat had been vacated by retiring independent senator Joe Manchin, who caucused with the Democrats.



West Virginia called for Trump, Senate seat flips for Republicans

Control of the US House and Senate will determine how easy – or difficult – it will be for the next president to carry out his or her agenda. Much of US President Joe Biden’s landmark legislation, including the Inflation Reduction Act and the Chips and Science Act, became law when the Democrats narrowly controlled both chambers in Biden’s first two years.
Republicans are confident they will win control of the 100-seat Senate, which the Democrats currently hold with a slim 51-seat majority. Thirty-four Senate seats are up for election, and the Democratic incumbents are facing tough challenges in Montana and Ohio.
Additionally, as expected, the Republican candidate, Jim Justice, has won the open seat in West Virginia, putting the chamber on course for Republican control.
All 435 House seats are up for election, and according to the Cook Political Report, about two dozen House races are considered “toss ups”, meaning either party has a good chance of winning. Just four Senate seats are considered toss-ups.
Depending on how tight some of the races are, it may take days or weeks for control of both chambers to be known.
The Chips and Science Act, a law subsidising American semiconductor manufacturing, could hang in the balance. House Speaker Mike Johnson said last week that Republicans seek to “streamline” the law.
Johnson has also said Republicans would reauthorise a House committee focused on strategic competition with China – a commitment that Democrats have yet to make.


Control of Congress may not be known for weeks

A total of 30,000 absentee ballots need to be recounted in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, due to machine error, which is likely to delay results further into Wednesday.
The key swing state’s Wisconsin Public Radio says a sealing error in the vote tabulation machines at Milwaukee’s central count facility occurred at about 4pm local time, prompting a ballot recount.
The city’s spokesperson says she doesn’t have an estimate on when the results might be in after the recount. Earlier in the day, she estimated results for the city would be in between 2am and 3am on Wednesday morning.
Wisconsin will close its polls at 9pm ET. In 2020, about 70 per cent of results were reported by midnight Eastern time. National polls show that Harris is leading Trump in the state by a razor-thin margin of 1 per cent.


Recounting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

The US election will be “crucial” to Filipinos because so many live in the United States and the two countries have a defence treaty, Philippine news outlet Rappler.com says.
At least 1.4 million Filipinos lived in the United States as of 2022 and the Philippines is the “oldest” American ally in Asia, the news outlet adds.
The two countries signed a mutual defence treaty in 1951, obliging each one to defend the other if attacked. Manila and Beijing are at odds now on sovereignty over parts of the South China Sea.
Filipino citizens have moved to the US for decades to work in higher-paying jobs and support families at home.
“It cannot be denied how crucial the results will also be for Filipinos,” Rappler.com says.


US election ‘crucial’ to Filipinos


About 100 pro-Palestinian protesters have gathered outside of the White House on Black Lives Matter Plaza tonight.
Their message: “No Trump, No Kamala.” pic.twitter.com/Y46GuuRGKI
— Gary Grumbach (@GaryGrumbach) November 6, 2024

About 100 demonstrators are gathering at the Black Lives Matter Plaza outside the White House.
A NBC reporter says their message is “No Trump, No Kamala”.
Both candidates vow to bring an end to the Israel-Gaza conflict, which has killed over 40,000 people, mainly Palestinians. Harris and Trump both support Israel’s right to defend itself.
Harris, however, has made a more forceful appeal to Palestinians and Arab-Americans, calling for a two-state solution and the protection of Palestinians’ “dignity”.
Trump criticised a ceasefire proposal put forward by Biden in May, saying Biden and Harris were trying to “tie Israel’s hand behind its back” by “demanding” a ceasefire.
The former president told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “do what you have to do”, which was criticised by some as an attempt to delay a ceasefire.
Trump put in place a “Muslim ban” early in his first term, blocking travellers from predominately Muslim countries from entering the US. Biden revoked the order, but Trump has vowed to bring it back and expand it to refugees from Gaza if re-elected.


Pro-Palestinian protest outside White House

Mainstream media in Hong Kong are expressing their disappointment with the 2024 election in the United States.
Ming Pao says on Wednesday that “regardless of who is elected, Washington will pursue an ‘America First’ policy”, and that the US has “has changed its tune” on its once strongly proclaimed commitment to free trade.
The Oriental Daily News says in its newspaper’s opinion column that the US would fall into ‘international isolation’ in the next four years no matter who wins.
“Regardless of whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump is elected, they will have to face the same problem, which is that the United States will be isolated and deserted in different ways around the world.”


Hong Kong media on America first and US isolationism

All polls in the key swing state of Pennsylvania, with the exception of those in one county, are expected to close at 8pm ET. With 19 Electoral College votes, Pennsylvania holds the most among the swing states. The final polls in Pennsylvania are expected at 9.30pm ET.
In North Carolina, another one of the seven swing states, polls were also expected to close at 8pm ET.
Polls in Florida, which has 30 Electoral College votes, closed at 8pm ET.


Polls closing in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Florida

The American Chamber of Commerce in China tells the Post that no matter who wins the election, Washington should prioritise its engagement with Beijing for business, adding that US-China trade relations are a “critical pillar” of global economic stability.
“We hope to see both governments prioritise engagement that addresses key business needs while encouraging a balanced, competitive environment,” says Michael Hart, President of AmCham China.
“US-China trade relations are a critical pillar of global economic stability and we remain optimistic about the potential for constructive engagement,” says Hart.
“And we are committed to working with stakeholders on both sides to support policies that drive shared success and opportunity.”



AmCham China: US-China trade ties ‘critical pillar’ for the world

Both Harris and Trump could create “risks and opportunities for Thailand”, the Bangkok Post says, quoting the chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce.
Tariffs of 60 per cent on US-bound Chinese goods as proposed by Trump “might redirect Chinese exports towards Southeast Asia, flooding local markets with cheaper goods and challenging Thai manufacturers”, chamber chair Sanan Angubolkul is quoted as saying.
As for Harris, she would likely support international trade and clean-energy investments, the report adds, citing the chamber.
It says that scenario would offer a boost to Thai exports and give Thai businesses chances to to pursue clean-energy projects.
The chamber chairman further warns about fluctuations in the Thai baht’s value against other currencies and shifts in US “environmental commitments”, the report says.


Risks, rewards for Thailand depend on US vote outcome: Thai chamber

US media call Florida, and its 30 electoral votes, for Trump, as expected. Also in Florida, Republican Senator Rick Scott wins re-election, beating his Democratic challenger, Debbie Mucarsel-Powell.
Trump also wins South Carolina, as expected, taking the southeastern state’s nine electoral votes, as well as Missouri and Alabama.


Trump wins Florida, other southern states, as expected

The US Electoral College requires a presidential candidate to secure 270 of 538 available votes to prevail. On five occasions it has seen a US president win an election despite losing the popular vote, most recently in 2016 and 2000.
The indirect election mechanism is based on a compromise by America’s founding fathers after 21 days of debate, drawing on a centuries-old system used to elect emperors. Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Finland and France at various points had the system before dropping it.
That leaves the US as the lone democracy worldwide in which a presidential candidate can win a popular vote and still lose the election. By some counts, the US Congress has considered some 700 proposals over two centuries to reform or end the system.
The Electoral College could only be abolished by adoption of a US constitutional amendment, meaning change would be difficult to achieve.
Read our explainer.


How is the US alone in election decisions?

Harris wins a few “Blue Wall” states on the East Coast as expected, as AP calls the race for her at around 8pm ET, shortly after polls close in those states.
Harris adds the New England states of Rhode Island (four electoral votes), Massachusetts (11 EVs) and Connecticut (seven EVs), as well as the mid-Atlantic state of Maryland (10 EVs) to her column, giving her another 32 electoral votes.


Harris wins four early ‘Blue Wall’ states


Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar says the next US president, regardless of who it is, will be more “isolationist”.
“If we are truly analysing them, I think we have to prepare for a world where actually the kind of dominance and generosity which the US had in the early days may not continue,” Jaishankar says, as quoted by the India-based Economic Times.
“Probably starting from [former president Barack] Obama the US has become much more cautious about its global commitments,” he says.
The Indian official makes his comment in Canberra, where the Australian foreign minister says he was invited to attend an Australia-India foreign ministers’ framework dialogue.


Indian FM says next US president will be more ‘isolationist’


The US dollar is gaining in early trading on Wednesday against China’s offshore yuan currency, a shift that one international investment bank says reflects Republican strength in the election.
As of 9.34am, the US dollar is worth about 7.14 yuan in offshore trade, 0.7 per cent higher than its rate at 11.40pm on Tuesday. The offshore rate reflects how global traders see the Chinese currency.
“Only a red sweep outcome can probably add to the dollar’s upside,” investment bank ING says in a research note on global currencies.
ING forecasts that the election outcome is likely to “deliver a binary impact on currency markets”.
A relatively weak yuan helps China’s exporters – a pillar of the world’s second largest economy – but makes things more expensive for importers and outbound travellers.


US dollar strengthens against China’s offshore yuan

With Senator Rick Scott of Florida winning re-election and West Virginia Governor Jim Justice winning the Senate seat vacated by long-time Democrat Joe Manchin, the Senate is poised to revert to Republican control unless Democrats manage some upsets in other states.
As happens every two years, all 435 House of Representatives seats are up for grabs. Senators are elected for six-year terms, though, and in the 100-seat Senate, 34, or about one-third, are up for grabs this cycle, with Democratic incumbents more vulnerable.
Take a closer look at the battle for control of the two chambers, including campaigns where China has featured prominently.


Republicans closer to taking control of Senate

Harris wins Delaware’s three Electoral College votes, Illinois’s 19, and New Jersey’s 14, according to the Associated Press.
Trump, meanwhile, gets Arkansas’s six.
Several Senate races have also been called with no surprises, including Democrat Andy Kim for New Jersey.



Harris wins Delaware, Illinois, New Jersey while Trump gets Arkansas

The FBI says it will operate a 24/7 national election command post from its strategic information and operation centre at its headquarters in Washington until at least November 9.
The effort is to enable the law enforcement and intelligence agency to respond to potential election security issues including “criminal threats such as threats to election workers, foreign malign influence, cyber threats and acts of domestic violence”, said James Barnacle of the FBI’s criminal investigative division.


The FBI’s 24/7 election command post

Trump may let Chinese invest in the US and consider making deals with China, an economics scholar says.
“Trump seems to be more open to allow for China’s foreign direct investment in the US to create jobs,” says Liang Yan of Willamette University in Oregon.
Trump, compared to his election rival Harris, “is more transactional and willing to make deals without crossing China’s red line on Taiwan or the South China Sea”, she adds.
The Republican candidate is more “unpredictable” than Harris, she says, but China has experience in working with the former president, whose term spanned 2017 to 2021.
Trump’s “go-alone” approach is less effective than Harris’s plans to “contain” Chinese technological progress, according to Liang’s analysis.
Outgoing President Joe Biden, with Harris as vice-president, has cooperated with allied nations in restricting hi-tech transfers to China.


Trump ‘open’ to Chinese investment: economics scholar

Polls in the swing states of Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin are expected to close at 9pm ET.
Final polls in Pennsylvania are expected to close at 9.30pm, while voting in Nevada is expected to end around 10pm ET.
Polls in Texas, which has 40 Electoral College votes, are also expected to close at 9pm. Trump is almost certain to win these votes, but there is a tight Senate race in the state, which could help Democrats prevent a Republican takeover of the chamber if they win that seat.


Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, Texas polls closing

Trump wins Texas for the third consecutive election on Tuesday, adding 40 electoral votes to his tally, shortly after polls closed for the state.
He also wins Ohio’s 17 electoral votes, as well Louisiana’s eight, and three each for North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
In addition, Trump wins the statewide popular vote in Nebraska, receiving two electoral college votes. Nebraska is one of two states that split electoral votes, giving two to the statewide winner and one to each congressional district winner.
Harris, as expected, picks up New York’s 28 electoral votes.


Trump wins Ohio, Texas, several red states while Harris takes New York


Elon Musk, Tesla’s CEO and a vocal Trump supporter, urges voters in his social media feed to “drag everyone you know to vote!!!”
Before that advice, the entrepreneur announced that a man named Tyler VanAkin of the US swing state Michigan had become the “final recipient” of US$1 million for signing a “petition to support the Constitution”.
“Tyler was travelling, but we were able to meet up with him before he boarded his flight,” a post claimed. “Thank you all who signed in Support of the Rights to Free Speech and Bear Arms.”
Musk has given away US$16 million to registered swing-state voters in exchange for signing the petition. The billionaire’s giveaways have drawn scrutiny from various election officials as to whether they violate campaign laws.


Trump backer Elon Musk gives away final US$1 million

Once US President Joe Biden leaves the White House in January, attention will turn to his foreign-policy legacy, which will include his coalition building in the Indo-Pacific as a bulwark against China. But some experts wonder if those relationships can survive without an end game.
Read our full analysis here.


Biden’s Indo-Pacific legacy

Nicholas Burns, the US ambassador to China, says Election Day is the most important day for American democracy – and for all democracies around the world.
“It is a day when the people, not the powerful, decide and when the people rule,” he says in remarks at an embassy reception streaming live election results in Beijing.
“It is the purest form of democracy in our country and in democracies around the world,” the long-time diplomat adds.
“You can’t call yourself a democracy if you don’t let the people vote in a free, fair and transparent election.”
Burns voices confidence in the strength and power of American democracy, adding that he hopes Chinese attendees of the event could “feel and experience … the power of the vote”.
The event, held at the embassy, is attended by guests including diplomats from other foreign embassies. Israel’s ambassador to China is among the attendees.




US envoy in China touts ‘power of the vote’

Would a second Donald Trump US presidency mean even more tariffs and antagonism towards Beijing?
“The most beautiful word in the dictionary is ‘tariff,’” Trump told business leaders at the Economic Club of Chicago in October.
Read our profile to see how far back these views and others stretch.


Trump’s ‘beautiful’ tariffs

While most swing states are still a long way from being called for either candidate, The New York Times’ Needle paints a complicated picture for Kamala Harris.
First launched in 2016, the Needle takes into account past voting patterns, polls and live results to predict who will win each state.
Trump currently has a 72 per cent chance of winning the Electoral College. The Republican has an 82 per cent chance of winning Georgia, 79 per cent in North Carolina and 70 per cent in Arizona. In the popular vote, the newspaper’s forecasting model shows a razor-thin lead of 0.2 points in favour of Harris.


Trump now has 72 per cent chance of winning: NYT

Nevada’s polls are expected to close at 10pm Eastern time. The state is the smallest of the seven swing states, with six electoral votes.
Arizona’s polling stations were expected to close at 9pm but hours were extended in some precincts after some non-credible bomb threats were received.
Final polls are expected to close around 1am Eastern time on Wednesday.


Final swing state polls closing


As Trump extends his Electoral College lead over Harris following a decisive victory in his home state of Florida as well as Texas, the Republican is spending election night at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, surrounded by some of his most influential supporters, including billionaire Elon Musk.
Throughout the evening, the former president has hosted exclusive dinners with top donors and allies. There have also been watch parties, including a large gathering at the Palm Beach Convention Centre for thousands of his supporters.
Trump is expected to address his supporters later on Tuesday night.


What’s Trump doing tonight?

The watch party organised by the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong is teeming with attendees and journalists on Wednesday morning as early returns show Trump in the lead.
Diana Parusheva-Lowery, managing director of the Asia Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, says while a second Trump presidency would likely usher in tariff hikes and affect capital flows, a Harris administration would not deliver China-friendly policies, either.
“A lot of the members that I represent have their headquarters in America, and whoever wins, they will have to make peace with it and work with the president,” she says at the event.



