0:02

— Today, Harris concedes

0:04

to Trump, but vows to fight

0:06

on. — How unbridled

0:08

rhetoric on inflation and immigration was ultimately

0:10

a vote winner. —

0:12

What Trump's victory means for his many

0:14

legal troubles. — And what the new

0:17

president-elect means for federates and the

0:19

economy in general. It's

0:23

Thursday, November 7th. This

0:25

is Reuters World News, bringing

0:27

you everything you need to know from

0:29

the frontlines in 10 minutes every weekday.

0:32

I'm Tara Oakes in Washington, D.C. —

0:35

And I'm Jonah Green in New York. —

0:42

The outcome of this election is not what

0:44

we wanted, not what

0:46

we fought for. — The concession

0:48

speech. Vice President Kamala

0:51

Harris addressing her supporters, many

0:53

of them in tears at her

0:55

alma mater, Howard University, vowing

0:58

to keep fighting for the ideals that powered her

1:00

campaign to the White House. —

1:02

While I concede this election, I

1:05

do not concede the fight

1:07

that fueled this campaign. —

1:11

A warning of potentially tough times ahead.

1:14

— I know many people feel like we

1:16

are entering a dark time, but

1:19

for the benefit of us all, I

1:22

hope that is not the case. —

1:24

Today, President Joe Biden will address the

1:26

nation to discuss the election results and

1:28

the transition. The White

1:30

House says Biden has invited President-elect Trump to meet

1:33

with him in the White House and

1:35

expressed his commitment to ensuring a smooth transition

1:37

of power. —

1:42

As we look ahead to what Trump's second term might

1:44

bring, political analysts are

1:46

trying to understand just how Trump made

1:48

such a remarkable comeback with such

1:51

an unrestrained campaign. Reporter

1:54

Graham Slattery has been digging into the

1:56

data and speaking with Trump allies. —

1:58

We've spent so much time here. much time looking

2:01

at micro demographics and elements of the

2:03

ground game and just looking

2:05

at very particular regions of states. But

2:08

in the end, it was very, very simple. People

2:11

were upset about inflation. They

2:13

were upset about immigration. And he

2:15

was able to hit those issues

2:17

very consistently. People didn't like

2:19

the direction of the country. And

2:22

it created a situation where it was

2:24

very, very difficult for Vice President Harris

2:26

to be very effective. She was sledding

2:28

uphill. And that's something we saw in

2:30

all the exit polls we've examined. In

2:32

some ways, perhaps it was simpler than

2:34

we realized. Some donors thought

2:36

that his dark rhetoric on migrants could

2:38

hurt his campaign. Why didn't

2:40

that move the needle? In

2:42

talking to his close allies, one thing

2:44

that they think is that even when

2:47

he says something that's very inflammatory or

2:49

just patently false, when it

2:51

relates to something like immigration, it

2:53

keeps the news cycle focused on

2:55

immigration rather than on issues that

2:57

are not as good for

2:59

Trump in terms of voter trust. So

3:02

for instance, during his debate against Harris

3:04

in September, he reviewed these falsehoods about

3:07

Haitian immigrants eating household pets in Ohio. A

3:09

lot of allies were very concerned that that

3:11

was going to hurt his

3:13

standing with moderate voters. Perhaps it

3:15

did, but it also

3:18

created a two-week news cycle where there

3:20

was very little discussion of the

3:22

issues that were strong for Harris,

3:24

such as democracy or reproductive rights, and created

3:27

a two-week news cycle where people were

3:29

talking about immigration, which is an issue

3:31

that people trust Trump on. As

3:35

the Federal Reserve meets today, analysts are

3:37

expecting Fed Chair Jay Powell to announce

3:39

a quarter percentage point cut to the

3:41

Fed's policy rate. And

3:43

those promises Trump made on immigration and tax,

3:46

which helped win in the vote, will now

3:48

be issues the Fed has to factor in

3:50

to its rate-setting decisions. To

3:54

help us understand how Trump's economic plans might

3:56

play out, be caught up with our US

3:58

economics editor, Dan Burns. in D.C. Donald

4:01

Trump will return to the

4:04

White House with really ambitious

4:06

plans around broad import tariffs,

4:08

immigration restrictions, and additional tax

4:10

cuts that economists see delivering

4:12

probably a short-term boost to

4:14

economic growth, but also substantially

4:16

larger budget deficits, weaker workforce

4:19

growth, and ultimately potentially higher

4:21

inflation. At the center of

4:23

his proposals really are two

4:25

things. The first is to

4:27

extend all of the 2017

4:30

tax cuts that were

4:33

enacted in his first term. He's

4:35

added to that by also calling

4:37

for some hefty new tax breaks.

4:40

And the next, of course, is

4:42

he has very aggressive plans for

4:44

tariffs. He would like to impose

4:47

essentially a 10 percent across the

4:49

board tariffs on all goods imported

4:51

into the United States, and

4:54

even higher levies on imports from

4:56

China. These would,

4:58

if fully imposed, return the

5:00

effective U.S. tariff levels to

5:02

nearly 18 percent, which is

5:05

the highest, according to the

5:07

Tax Foundation, since 1934. It

5:11

would result in essentially a one-time

5:13

price increase effect for U.S. households,

5:16

and that's something that some economists

5:18

see ultimately as a drag on

5:20

growth. So how might

5:22

his other policy plans affect the

5:25

economy? So he also has plans

5:27

to restrict immigration, and that would

5:29

have a notable economic effect, either

5:33

restricting new arrivals, or

5:35

if he follows through on his

5:38

threats for mass deportations, that would

5:40

cut into the U.S. labor force,

5:42

and that could reaccelerate wage growth,

5:45

which has begun to come down

5:47

a bit, and that's because employers

5:49

would be competing to fill jobs

5:52

from a more limited labor pool.

5:54

So the combination of all that

5:57

risks a rekindling of inflation that's...

5:59

could mean that the run of interest rate

6:01

cuts we expect from the Fed over the

6:03

next year or so, there may just not

6:05

be as many of them and they may

6:07

not end up being able to cut rates

6:09

as deeply as currently estimated. And

6:11

if you want to understand more about

6:14

the Fed's decision today, listen to our

6:16

latest episode of Econ World podcast with

6:18

Carmen Cremens, where she talks about the

6:20

elusive Goldilocks interest rate. There's

6:22

a link in the pod description. Trump's

6:27

win also means that he will soon become

6:30

the first convicted felon to assume the presidency.

6:33

And the 78-year-old stands charged with

6:35

criminal offenses in three other cases.

6:38

So what does Trump's victory mean for

6:40

those cases? Jack Queen is our legal

6:42

correspondent. Jack first remind

6:44

us what the incoming president currently

6:47

stands accused of. So he

6:49

technically has three pending criminal cases right

6:51

now. One of them is in Washington,

6:53

D.C. federal court over his efforts to

6:56

overturn his 2020 election loss. There's another

6:58

in Georgia state court about the same

7:00

conduct. And there's a Florida

7:02

federal court case about his handling

7:04

of classified documents upon leaving office.

7:07

And then finally, he was convicted earlier

7:09

this year in New York state court

7:12

illegally covering up hush money payments to

7:14

a porn star. And he is scheduled

7:16

to be sentenced in that case soon.

7:19

But it's actually unclear now when

7:22

that's going to happen or if it'll happen. And

7:24

so what happens to all of these

7:26

cases once he becomes president?

7:28

So the short answer is they go

7:30

away. To unpack that a

7:33

little bit, the federal cases now again,

7:35

that's the Washington, D.C. one and

7:37

the Florida one. He

7:39

can end those immediately his first

7:41

day in office because the president

7:43

is the chief federal law enforcement

7:46

officer in the country. The attorney

7:48

general serves at his pleasure as

7:50

do all the people underneath the

7:52

attorney general. We've reported that the

7:54

DOJ is already looking at ways

7:56

to wind down those cases and

7:58

end them before he takes office

8:00

because. There's also longstanding Justice Department

8:02

policy that the DOJ cannot prosecute

8:04

a sitting president because the president

8:06

is the boss of the DOJ.

8:09

So those go away. The Georgia

8:11

state court case is a little

8:14

different because it was not brought

8:16

by federal prosecutors, but that one

8:18

is also not long for this

8:20

world. It's extremely unlikely, if not

8:23

impossible, that a court would be

8:25

willing to try a sitting president

8:27

in state court. And

8:29

they couldn't just delay it until

8:32

after his presidency is over for years,

8:35

because that would violate his right to

8:37

a speedy trial. And presumably he's

8:39

not going to jail if he's sentenced

8:41

later this month. Sentencing

8:43

a sitting president to

8:46

prison, it's pretty much

8:48

inconceivable. So it

8:50

looks like he's all but guaranteed

8:52

to avoid any serious consequences in

8:54

that case. A

9:01

caravan of some 3,000 migrants

9:03

has gathered in southern Mexico headed

9:05

to the U.S. border. Caravan

9:08

comes after an easing of migrant crossings

9:10

in recent months, and

9:12

as president-elect Donald Trump threatens

9:15

mass deportations of undocumented migrants

9:17

currently in the U.S. German

9:22

Chancellor Olaf Scholz announcing his decision

9:24

to fire his finance minister over

9:26

budget disputes. The ruling

9:29

coalition's collapse paves the way for a snap

9:31

election. Ukrainian

9:34

forces have clashed with the North

9:36

Korean troops, according to Ukraine's defense

9:38

minister. President Volodymyr Zelensky has

9:40

said it marks a new page of

9:42

instability in the world. Israeli

9:46

strikes in Lebanon have killed 40 people

9:49

around the eastern city of Baalbek in

9:51

the Bakar Valley, according to the Lebanese

9:53

health ministry. Further Israeli

9:56

strikes hit multiple locations in the

9:58

capital Beirut following Israeli orders. to

10:00

evacuate. The Israeli military has not

10:02

yet commented. Today's

10:12

recommended read looks ahead to next week on

10:14

the UN's COP 29 climate summit, with

10:17

newly released data showing that this

10:19

year is virtually certain to eclipse

10:21

2023 as the

10:23

world's warmest since records began. You

10:26

can read more about it by following the link

10:28

in the pod description. And

10:30

for more on any of the stories from

10:32

today, check out reuters.com or the Reuters app.

10:35

To never miss an episode, follow along on

10:37

your favorite podcast player. We'll

10:40

be back tomorrow with our daily headline show.