In 2024 the global economy stabilized following the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic, although growth in many countries slowed before 2020.
Amid a slow recovery, more than 2 billion people were eligible to vote this year, and economic pressures, particularly rising consumer spending, were a major concern for voters around the world.
Meanwhile, governments have grappled with how to manage disruptive technologies like artificial intelligence, and Donald Trump's victory in the United States presidential election marked a major shift in security.
Here are seven major events that will change the global economy in 2024:
Trump hints at new trade wars
Trump has signaled that he will pursue the more aggressive “America First” security policy that won him a second term in the White House.
On the campaign trail, Trump promised tariffs of 60 percent or more on Chinese goods and 20 percent on all other goods.
Trump has also put friendly countries in the crosshairs, recently threatening to impose a 25 percent tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico, raising questions about the future of the three-way free trade agreement between the countries.
Economists say Trump's proposed tariff hike would raise the cost of everyday goods in the US and upend supply chains around the world.
Most recently, Mr. Trump earlier this month threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on the BRICS countries – China, Russia, Brazil, India, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates – if they did not commit to zero tariffs. new currency to compete with the US dollar.
Managing Big Tech
Governments around the world spent 2024 trying to regulate Big Tech.
At the beginning of the year, the European Union's Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act came into force, introducing new rules for how TV and other online platforms operate and giving users more control over their information.
In March, the European Parliament passed the dangerous AI Act, which regulates the use of artificial intelligence based on its level of risk.
The regulations, which came into effect in August, do not include models for national security and military purposes, or just scientific research.
Svea Windwehr, senior EU policy advisor at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a digital rights group, said that international efforts to control AI are still a work in progress in 2025.
“As we have seen in the case of the UN Cybercrime Convention, we are far from a shared international commitment to protect fundamental rights online, and a global approach to AI control seems far away at the moment,” Windwehr told Al Jazeera.
Brazil went head to head with technology giant Elon Musk – CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, and owner of X – and won, at least for now.
In August, Brazil's Supreme Court suspended X and froze the bank accounts of the social network and SpaceX after Musk refused to delete X accounts accused of spreading false information.
Musk later complied with the court's demands, in addition to paying a $2m fine.
In November, Australia banned social networking sites for children under 16 due to concerns over the impact on young people's health.
Platforms like TikTok, Snapchat, Facebook and Instagram have a year to figure out how to comply with the rules.
Opponents, including the EFF and the Australian Human Rights Commission, criticized the law for being too hasty and violating free speech.
From early next year, the controversial Online Safety Act in the UK will come into effect in several stages.
One of the most controversial aspects of the law is whether the authorities will require messaging apps such as WhatsApp and Signal to crack down on encryption to limit their use by gangs and child offenders.
Donald Trump's victory in November's presidential election could signal the return of the popular video-sharing app TikTok, which faces a US ban from January unless its Chinese owner ByteDance sells the platform.
On the campaign trail, the president-elect promised to “save” the program, though he did not detail how he would avoid the ban, which was enacted by legislation passed earlier this year with bipartisan support.
ByteDance has refused to sell the platform, instead launching a legal battle that could take years to resolve.
During this time, US social media became increasingly disconnected from society and politics.
Ever since Musk bought the platform formerly known as Twitter in 2022, X has taken a huge turn to the right.
According to a recent study by the Queensland University of Technology in Australia, the platform's algorithm appears to be amplifying the posts of Republicans and Musk himself to increase the popularity of conservative views.
Trump's Truth Social also gained popularity when the president-elect took to the megaphone to express his views.
Other platforms such as Instagram Threads have continued to grow their user base in different ways.
Meanwhile, free users have left X to Blue Sky.
In the week following Trump's election victory, the platform reported adding more than 1 million users.
The rulers were punished for the cost of life
Elections were very difficult for incumbents almost everywhere.
With voters in more than 60 countries casting ballots, economic issues, and social issues, in particular, were high on the agenda from North America to Europe and Africa.
Voters in many countries, including the UK, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Japan and India, have either ousted the ruling parties from office or effectively blocked them.
In the US, Trump's major victory was due to public dissatisfaction with the epidemic of inflation under President Joe Biden.
Ireland was one of the few remaining anti-establishment parties, where voters gave the Fine Gael and Fianna Fail parties enough seats to start negotiating a coalition with smaller parties or independents.
Oligarchs on the march
Business interests and government power have always been intertwined, but Trump's return to the White House is set to dramatically increase the influence of some of the most powerful US moguls.
Chief among them is Musk, one of Trump's biggest supporters during the election, who was appointed to lead the newly created “Department of Public Works” by fellow businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
Musk has made no secret of his distaste for government officials, targeting spending agencies and initiatives ranging from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to the Internal Revenue Service and the F-35 fighter jet.
Some of Trump's nominees from among his wealthiest friends and allies include billionaire hedge fund founder Scott Bessent as Treasury secretary; Howard Lutnick, CEO of financial firm Cantor Fitzgerald, as secretary of commerce; hedge fund manager Doug Burgum as interior secretary; Chris Wright, CEO of an oilfield services company, as energy secretary; and Linda McMahon, former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, as education secretary.
Outside the US, the influence of the oligarchs was also shown in the US Department of Justice prosecuting Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, the founder and chairman of the Adani Group, on charges of corruption and embezzlement.
Adani is known as a close ally of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose development goals align with the tycoon's work ethic, food production and clean energy.
Bitcoin is coming back
Bitcoin's price soared in the weeks after Trump's victory, from $68,000 on election day to above $100,000 earlier this month.
Although Trump was against Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies during his first term in office, he appeared as a vocal supporter of digital currencies during his recent election, promising to make the US “crypto capital of the planet”.
The president-elect has promised to create a Bitcoin investment system and has appointed a number of cryptocurrency enthusiasts to join his incoming administration, including former PayPal Chief Operating Officer David Sacks as crypto tsar and Paul Atkins as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission. , which disrupted the segment under outgoing headliner Gary Gensler.
China is reeling on incentives
China watchers have been waiting all year to see what Beijing will do to help revive the world's second-largest economy, amid challenges ranging from sluggish consumption to population growth and a prolonged stock market slump.
Although China's leadership has previously shied away from using stimulus money, some analysts expect Beijing to rethink its stance to revive growth.
Beijing announced a series of measures to boost growth, particularly on the monetary side, including lowering interest rates and reducing the reserve requirement for banks, and freeing up 1 trillion yuan ($140bn) in debt.
But many economists saw these measures as insufficient to sustain the economy, especially if Beijing is to meet its growth target of around 5 percent in 2024.