Updates throughout with latest election results
Former president Donald Trump is leading election tallies in a number of states crucial to winning the White House, but the final outcome of the presidential contest may take longer to determine.
As of 11pm ET on Tuesday, Trump, the Republican nominee, was ahead of vice president Kamala Harris in Georgia and North Carolina, with almost 90pc counted in each state. With partial results in, Trump is running ahead of Harris in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona, while she has a slight lead in Michigan. Ballot counting just now is getting underway in Nevada.
The seven swing states will decide which candidate reaches the threshold of 270 electoral votes needed to win the election.
Trump has promised to pursue a radical shift for the US on policies related to energy, taxes, trade and foreign affairs — reversing many of the policies and legislation that Democrats have put in place under President Joe Biden.
On energy policy, Trump said he wants oil and gas producers to "drill, baby, drill" to bring down domestic energy prices and to dismantle many of the regulations and climate policies put in place by Biden, which Trump dubbed the "Green New Scam". Trump said he would immediately lift a "pause" on licensing new LNG export terminals and restart oil development in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Trump wants to impose a 20pc tariff on all foreign imports and even higher tariffs on China.
The next president faces decisions on the future of US support for Ukraine and related restrictions on Russian energy exports, enforcing US sanctions against Iran and Venezuela and how to contain the growing threat of an Israel-Iran war and its potential impacts on oil flows from the Middle East.
In the US House of Representatives, too many races are undecided for major networks to project control. But in the US Senate, Republicans appear likely to win control for the first time in four years, with West Virginia governor Jim Justice (R) flipping a seat held by senator Joe Manchin (I), who is retiring.
In 2025, the US Congress is poised for a major fight on tax policy because of the year-end expiration of an estimated $4 trillion in tax cuts.
