From Trump to Bitcoin, inflation and China: the big economic trends of 2024

The year 2024 saw the global economy stabilise following the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, even as growth in many countries lagged pre-2020 levels. Amid a patchy recovery, more than 2 billion people were eligible to vote this year, and economic issues, particularly rising living costs, were a top concern for voters around the world. Meanwhile, governments grappled with how to regulate potentially transformational technology such as artificial intelligence, and Donald Trump's victory in the United States' presidential election heralded a sharp turn towards protectionism. Trump has indicated that he will pursue an even more aggressive version of the "America First" protectionism that fuelled his rise to power during his second stint in the White House. On the campaign trail, Trump pledged to impose tariffs of 60 percent or higher on Chinese goods and a blanket 20 percent tariff on all other imports.