Donald Trump has been elected President by defeating his rival Kamala Harris in the much talked about presidential election of the United States of America. In such a situation, speculations are ripe all over the world about what major changes can happen in the economic and social policies of America. Last tenure of Trump had been full of path breaking changes in US policies. Due to globalization, terrorism and religious fanaticism, wars and economic turmoil, nationalism is on rise all over the world. The results of the current US presidential election can also be seen in the same light. It is worth noting that when Trump became President for the first time, he repeatedly reiterated that he wanted to restart the rusting factories caused by indiscriminate import of Chinese goods. He also wants radical changes in the US immigration policies so that the jobs of Americans can be protected. He even said that he wants to build a wall across the entire US-Mexico border to stop illegal infiltration from Mexico. He stressed that America has to end armed intervention in far-off countries to save itself from wasteful expenditure.

Trump extended a hand of friendship to a country like Russia with which America never had cordial relations and his friendship with Russian President Putin was much talked about. Due to these policies, Trump has been able to win People’s faith and has become President again due to his popularity among the majority of Americans. America First has been the mantra of the Trump administration. That is, overall, the magic of Trump's nationalism is at its peak in America. Nationalism has rising fast in Europe too. After the Second World War, European countries started adopting liberalism first and then globalization and even open immigration policy. Worried about their economy, society snd future generations, European countries are riding high on nationalism. Nationalist governments have already been established in six major European countries; namely, Italy, Finland, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia and Czech Republic; and in many other countries nationalist parties are gaining further strength. In Sweden, the existence of the present regime depends on the support of the nationalist party Nationalist Sweden Democrats. In the Netherlands, the anti-Islam party of Greet Wilders is playing an important role in power equations. In Germany and France too, the influence of nationalist political parties is increasing unprecedentedly. As appeasement of minority communities increased in the name of secularism, extremism also increased. Recently, horrific scenes of this extremism were also seen in France and England. All these incidents have changed the mood of the people, not only in Europe and America but all over the world.

Whether it is Europe or America, the victory of nationalism has many implications. First of all, it has to be understood that this is a big defeat of so called liberal forces, who had been directly or indirectly favoring Wokeism, leftist ideologies and even extremism in US or in the neighborhood. Trump has praised Hindus a lot in his election speeches and appreciated their role in America, and has even described himself as a big fan of Hindus. No American President has done this before. On the other hand, although Trump is not against Muslims, he has clearly said that those Muslim immigrants who support Hamas will be deported from America. That is, Trump is against any kind of extremism.

Secondly, It is worth noting that the Biden administration had supported the Canadian government that supports extremist forces; the incoming Trump administration is not going to follow the suit. It is important that while extremists, leftists, wokes supporters appear to be standing on Democrats’ side, Trump clearly gave the slogan of American nationalism (America First) and won. This is proof of the fact that Trump's victory is also, in a way, the defeat of extremists, leftists, wokeism. The role of Elon Musk, a prominent industrialist and billionaire of USA, was also important in the American elections. It has to be understood that Elon Musk has personally been a victim of Wokeism. It is not just a coincidence that although Elon Musk was against Trump earlier, later became his staunch supporter. After buying the Twitter ( now X) social media platform, he reinstated Trump on Twitter and not only this, leaving his indifferent stance, he directly came in support of Trump. Elon Musk is said to have played an important role in Trump's victory. It can also be understood that this election is also an election against wokeism.

We understand that this election was fought on the issues of Wokeism, extremism, freedom of expression versus censorship apart from economic issues, where Trump had been reiterating his resolve to make America great again by protecting and promoting domestic businesses, restricting immigration and deporting undocumented immigrants, working in the United States, to protect jobs for Americans. But what Trump's victory means for India is a big question. Given the US-China tensions, which are likely to aggravate, Trump's coming to power may encourage foreign firms, who see India as an alternative manufacturing hub. This may give India an opportunity to strengthen its domestic manufacturing through its Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative. Although India may also be concerned about losing exports to the US due to Trump’s protectionist stance and tariff hikes, on the other hand a possible reduction in taxes on individuals and businesses, as anticipated, could improve US growth, benefiting India’s exports. The US may tighten H1B visas, which could create problems for Indian technology and services sector companies as their cost of operations may increase. In all we have to wait and watch about likely fallouts of Trump‘s victory.