Republican Donald Trump defeated heavily favored Hillary Clinton in Tuesday's presidential election, ending eight years of Democratic rule.

Trump has reportedly won 278 electoral votes so far while he needed 270 out of 538 for victory, BBC reported on November 9.

What happens now that Donald Trump has won?

The Telegraph reports Mr. Trump's rhetoric on immigration came to define his presidential campaign.

Though slightly more carefully worded, his proposal once in office remains some of the most divisive legislation on the issue.

He has quietly dropped his call to remove all undocumented immigrants from the US, a move that, aside from being so impractical it might be impossible, experts have warned would damage the US economy by taking too many people out of the labor market.

Instead he would immediately begin the process of deporting illegal immigrants with criminal records.

Recent studies estimate there are fewer than 168,000 such people in the United States, according to The Telegraph.  But Mr. Trump put the number at some two million, suggesting his calculations of "criminals", people who have had minor run-ins with the law, such as getting a speeding ticket.

He will also “suspend immigration from terror-prone regions where vetting cannot safely occur,” The Telegraph says.   

Though the terminology is vague, Syria would almost certainly be on this list.  Mr. Trump has claimed that the government "does not know" who the refugees it lets in are from the country, despite their being scrutinized for up to two years before being allowed to enter the US.

“And last but not least there is the wall.  This would not happen on his first day, he admits, but eventually a Trump administration would push through legislation "build a wall" along the southern border of the United States and make Mexico bear the costs,” The Telegraph reports.  

A Trump presidency would break from the traditional Republican commitment to free trade, imposing a set of protectionist policies to close America's economic borders.

He will immediately announce his intention to "renegotiate" the North American Free Trade agreement with Canada and Mexico, The Telegraph said, noting that he would cancel participation in the Tran-Pacific Partnership, a controversial trade arrangement with 12 countries.

Donald Trump has said that as president he may not guarantee protection to fellow NATO countries who come under attack.

In an interview just before the Republican convention Mr. Trump said America would help only if that country had fulfilled its "obligations" within the alliance.

Advocating an ultra "America first" view of the world Mr. Trump has also threatened to withdraw troops from Europe and Asia if those allies fail to pay more for American protection.

Mr. Trump has flip-flopped on key issues including Syria, according to The Telegraph. Most recently the candidate reportedly implied that he sees Bashar al-Assad, the country's dictator, as the lesser evil when compared with US backed rebel opposition groups, some of whom have Islamist leanings.

He has promised to “bomb the hell” out of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.