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US president-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House has surprised many in South Africa, with the results of the hard-fought race in yesterday.
Trump is expected to implement his much publicised policies to put America first through strict trade tariff policy restrictions and tough border control policing.
He hopes to ensure an end to the Ukraine-Russia war but will not give Israel a blank cheque for its continued bombing in Palestine, according to political analyst Prof Ntsikelelo Breakfast, director of the Centre for Security and Conflict Resolution at Nelson Mandela University.
“I did not see this one coming because Trump was neck-and-neck with Democratic rival Kamala Harris,” Breakfast said.
“The strange thing is that he was confident of winning, even before the results were fully announced, because he gave thanks and a victory speech.
“At the same time, he had huge support on social media, especially X, with strong backing from Elon Musk.”
Political analyst prof Lesiba Teffo said: “Donald is not a conventional politician. Hence his appeal to the electorate. He has the courage of his convictions.
“He can mitigate global political tension/crisis. Which war did he initiate while in office previously? None.”
He said because of Trump’s antiwar stance, he was not a favourite of the US military industrial complex, which includes the US weapons industry.
If Harris had won there was a danger that the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East would continue and even intensify because she was warmonger Joe Biden’s vice-president.
Breakfast said Trump would be true to his promise to end the war in Ukraine and to withdraw his support for Nato.
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He said China might struggle under Trump because of his previous trade war with the country. But, he said, Beijing has a strategic interest in maintaining a good relationship with Washington.
“It will be interesting to see how Trump navigates relations with Africa. President Biden used the African Growth and Opportunity Act as a stick to beat Africa – and especially South Africa – to comply with the US geopolitical interests, which Pretoria resisted,” Breakfast said.
“Trump’s policy is that the US must benefit from all foreign programmes and interactions. “Trump is raw, he is unpredictable but one thing is for sure – there will be a shift in international relations under his administration.”
Earlier, the European diplomatic community in South Africa indicated that with or without US support for the war in Ukraine, they might continue backing the war against Russia.
According to diplomatic sources, Russia was a threat to Europe because of President Vladimir Putin’s alleged plan to revive the old Soviet Union, which Putin has long denied.
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