Ryan Bridge: This is Trump unleashed

In the space of 12 hours the whole world has changed.  Not only is Trump back baby, but he's more powerful than ever.  Republicans have flipped the Senate and are on track to retain the House of Representatives.  That gives the GOP enormous power to set budgets, start or stop funding wars, and impose tariffs on anyone they like.  Kiwi farmers and primary producers, our exporters, the backbone of this trading nation, will be waking up this morning with a pit in their stomach.  America is our second largest export market, overtaking the Aussies last year. Tariffs on our meat and dairy could be a brutal blow.  Plus, our number one trading partner in China is about to whacked even harder by Trump's Washington.  A trade war could wipe almost 1% of global growth in the next year, which is tipped to be around 3.5%. That's massive, and will send shockwaves around the world, and we will feel it.  Add in Trump potentially pulling support for Ukraine's war and his bullish comments on the Middle East and you've got yourself a highly unpredictable and, to use a couple of overused terms, unprecedented and consequential, set of variables.  For all the hand-wringing pre-election that Trump was an existential threat to democracy, that very system has elected him the 47th President, serving his last term with more power. This is Trump unleashed.  Buckle up and brace yourselves. Everything we knew yesterday about the global economy and global conflicts is about to change. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.