Global outlook summary
Also Interesting
On November 6th the US mid-term elections were held in what was widely seen as a referendum on the presidency of Donald Trump. The results presented a mixed result for Mr Trump and his Republican Party. Republicans made gains in the Senate (the upper house of Congress) but lost seats in the House of Representatives (the lower house). As The Economist Intelligence Unit had expected, the swing in the House was large enough to hand control to the Democrats for the next two years. The Democrats are now likely to increase the pressure on the Trump administration in a number of areas, launching multiple investigations into the activities and business ties of Mr Trump and members of his administration. On November 7th Mr Trump removed Jeff Sessions as attorney-general and replaced him with Matthew Whitaker, who has previously stated his concerns over the investigation into potential links between Mr Trump and Russian government officials being carried out by Robert Mueller. In response, Nancy Pelosi, the House minority speaker, called for Mr Whitaker to recuse himself of the investigation, a move that Mr Sessions made in his time as attorney-general. Given his views, Mr Whitaker is unlikely to comply. As a result, we expect an escalation of conflict between the Democrats and Mr Trump, with the Democrats increasing the pressure on his administration and Mr Trump reinforcing his combative approach and heated rhetoric towards his adversaries.
