For better or for worse, Donald Trump has got America – and the world of trade – all fired up. Not to mention GTR’s editorial team, who have been anxiously tracking and reporting on every trade policy threat and proposed move since the very start of the presidential campaign.

It’s likely that by the time you read this magazine, Trump will have been sworn in as US president, and worked through the long to-do list for his first day in office. His day one pledges for trade include several actions to pursue his promise to “protect” American workers who are frustrated by falling wages and the lack of secure jobs – the very voters that he fired up in his campaign.

But will he really, as threatened, withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta), stop pursuing the adoption of the long-awaited Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and rip up the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)? Will he label China a currency manipulator, get rid of the Iran nuclear deal, identify foreign trade abuses and reverse climate change brought in by Obama’s administration?

In this issue’s cover story, GTR’s Americas editor Melodie Michel provides an overview of what to expect in a world where Trump is president – not an easy task considering the uncertainty shrouding the US economy and its trading partners.

It’s no surprise that with trade being a cornerstone of Trump’s campaign, this proved to be one of most popular themes on the GTR website throughout the course of 2016.

An evaluation of our website statistics shows us that the other top stories were related to Brexit (no massive revelation there), blockchain technology (just what will be its implications for the banking world?) and Iran’s opening (following the lifting of economic sanctions at the start of last year). In this issue, we continue to monitor these trends: our fintech report discusses the merits of open-source coding, which is having a big impact on the industry’s recently-established blockchain consortia, and our Mena report has a closer look at the situation in Iran and banks’ continued reluctance to re-engage in Iranian business.

As we embark on a new year, the GTR team looks forward to digging deeper into how these and other developments are underpinning change in the trade finance market. We wish all of our readers a prosperous 2017!

In this issue: