Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has taken a significant lead over his Democrat counterpart and Kamala Harris in the race for White House. At 13:30 pm India time, the former US president was leading with 267 electoral votes, while the outgoing vice-president had secured 224, according to the Associated Press


The US is India's largest trading partner with the total annual trade crossing $190 billion.

Analysts say that Trump in his second term could move more towards protectionism. During his first term, he had blocked dispute resolution process of World Trade Organisation and had removed duty-free access under the decades-old Generalised System of Preferences 9GSP) programme.

In another controversial remark, the former US president had threatened to not to do bussiness  with those who are moving away from US dollar. “You leave the dollar and you’re not doing business with the United States because we are going to put a 100 percent tariff on your goods,” the Republican presidential nominee said at a rally in the battleground state of Wisconsin.  

Inflation and pharma sector

High trade barriers could fuel a spike in inflation and put the rate-cut trajectory off-course, resulting in higher income inequality, a note by Bernstein Research said. This could have a ‘detrimental’ impact on the middle class, which is already reeling under high prices.

Inflation, combined with Trump’s dislike for Obamacare could also hit India’s pharma exports, the research firm noted.

Trump’s win could negatively affect Indian IT Companies as the US may overhaul its immigration policies and restrict applications under the H-1B visa.

Indian IT firms heavily rely on the US for business and therefore depend on H-1B visa. Trump had previously termed H1-B as "very bad" and "unfair" for US workers and, in 2020, issued a rule that hiked the minimum wage of an H1-B visaholder.

However, experts believe Trump's victory could lead to more anti-China policies, which could translate to gains for Indian exports. This could ensure more business for IT firms. This led to a rally in the Nifty IT index on November 6, rising over 3 percent on the Republican candidate's imminent victory.

However, auto component makers might benefit as demand for products in the US markets is expected to see a rise.