U.S. election night: Trump seals victory in presidential race

• Donald Trump has won back the White House. Read Wednesday's file here.

Republican candidate Donald Trump has wonone of the most divisive U.S. presidential elections in recent memory, defeating Democratic candidate Kamala Harristo complete apolitical comeback not seen in more than a century.

Trump, 78, will become just thesecond presidentin American history to serve non-consecutive terms and the first convicted felon to hold the most powerful political office in the world.

The president-elect found early strength over Democratic candidate Kamala Harris, a vice-president who had tried to convince votersshe could offer a fresh start to a jaded nation and end an era of divisive national politics. After each candidate won reliably red and blue states, it was victories inbattleground statesthat pushed Trumpover the top.

"It is now clear that we've achieved the most incredible political thing. Look what happened. Isn't this crazy?"he told cheering supporters at the Palm Beach County Convention Center in West Palm Beach, Fla.,just before 2:30 a.m. ET.

"I want to thank theAmerican peoplefor the extraordinary honour of being elected your 47th president."

WATCH | Trump's full speech on election night:

Watch Donald Trump's full election night speech

5 days ago

Duration 25:27

After winning several battleground states, Donald Trump, flanked by family and supporters, gave a celebratory speech in which he vowed to 'bring every ounce of' energy and fight to the job of president.

Trump spoke after his reclamation of the largest swing state prize of Pennsylvania left victory within arm's reach. He has won, or is leadingin, the other six battlegrounds and was ahead in the popular vote.

Harris, 60, will not be addressing thenation until Wednesday.

"We still have votes to count. We still have states that have not been called yet," Harris campaign co-chair Cedric Richmondtold supporters gathered for a watch party at Howard University in Washington around1 a.m.

"We will continue overnight to fight to make sure every vote is counted, that every voice has spoken. So you won't hear from the vice-president tonight, but you will hear from her tomorrow."

WATCH | Harris campaign co-chair addresses sombrecrowd in D.C.:

Kamala Harris won't address supporters on election night

5 days ago

Duration 4:18

Kamala Harris won't address the election night crowd of supporters gathered at her alma mater, Howard University. Her campaign co-chair, Cedric Richmond, said Harris and her team are waiting for all votes to be counted and that she would speak to the nation on Wednesday.

As of early Wednesday, Harris had lost two states that Biden won last time Georgia and Pennsylvania, which both flipped from blue to red and was on a path to lose Arizona and Nevada, which Biden narrowly won in 2020.

Trump wasalso ahead in the popular vote, with 51.2 per cent to Harris's 47.4per cent.

The mood at Harris's election night party at HowardUniversity the candidate's alma mater shifted from electric to anxious as races were called and her supporters could see how close the race would be.

In another blow to Democrats,Republicans seized control of the Senate after flipping blue seats and holding onto others taking the majority for the first time in four years.

Grover Cleveland is the only other U.S. president to serve two terms that were not back-to-back. The Democrat was in office from 1885-1889, then again from 1893-1897.

Trump's campaign promises

The next U.S. presidentwill be consequential for Canada:The countries are top allies, side-by-side on the world stageand exchangingbillions of dollars annually in trade.

After Trump's declaration of victory, the American dollar surged and U.S. stock futures hit record highs asinvestors beton lower taxes and higher interest rates.

During the campaign, the Republican candidate made immigration a top issue. He has promised mass deportations, said he would end birthright citizenship and vowed to expand a travel ban on people from certain countries.

He took credit for the U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022, saying abortion laws should beleft to the states.

On theeconomy, Trump said he would impose sweeping tariffs on imported goods and onspecificcompaniesandcountries. He pledged to end taxes ontipsandovertime,to make emergency generators tax-deductible in states hit by natural disasters, to lower corporate tax rates and toopen federal landsto foreign companies and housing.

He alsovowed to undomuch of Biden's climate change work.

Onforeign policy, Trump pledged to fundamentally alter theU.S. relationship with NATOand to resolvethe Ukraine warwith possible peace talks that might requireKyivto cede territory. He has saidHamasmust be "crushed" and vowed to be tougher on Iran, but has given few details or policy proposals aroundthe crisis in the Middle East.

Unlike Canadians, Americans voted directly for who theywant to see as president though it is the electoral college that ultimately elects the winner.More than84millionvoters cast their ballotsearly, either by mail or in person.

Voting largely wentsmoothly, but the FBI said hoax bomb threats on Tuesday, many of which appeared to originate from Russian email domains,were directed at polling locationsin three U.S. battleground states:Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin.

The bureau said the threats were not credible but at least two polling sites in Georgia were briefly evacuated.