The election of Donald Trump could create delay and uncertainty for Australians doing business in the United States, according to Canberra Business Chamber chairman Glenn Keys.
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"I think there's a great deal of uncertainty [about] what it will mean and I think quite honestly we're probably going to have to hold our breath for the next couple of months and see how things go down," Mr Keys said from San Antonio, Texas.
"There are consulting businesses doing work over there, there's IT companies doing work in the US, and if some of those relate to some of the areas that the Trump campaign has said that they're going to review or even cancel, then that would have an effect. There will be a number of state department programs I'm sure that are going to be looked at quite closely, probably USAID-style contracts will be looked at quite closely."
But he said the rhetoric of the campaign would also confront the practicalities of government.
Mr Keys said changes in US presidency always took time, but in this case, it was from Democratic to a Republican administration and many in the new Trump cohort had not worked at senior US government level before, which would add to the uncertainty during the changeover.
"There's an enormous amount to do, and that means basically programs being on hold, bureaucrats will be holding their breath seeing what's going to happen.
"So I think ... for Canberra businesses exporting into the US, particularly if they're exporting into government organisations, there's probably going to be reasonable delay while administrations shake out and I would expect that to take into next year."
Mr Keys said Mr Trump had been very clear on his opposition to free-trade agreements and reducing overseas deployments, so some companies could find projects changed or cancelled.
"If they enact everything that they're going to do about free-trade agreements that will be quite de-stabilising for world trade and that would have some very significant impact," he said.
"I also think, though, that this will resonate around the world. And if they start to pull back from things like the North China sea, which has been one of the suggestions, that could have significant impacts on Australia's ... relationships in the region and therefore could equally flow into Canberra businesses."
Mr Keys said the Trump presidency had been big news on his Qantas flight to Texas, with regular updates on the count, and "congregations of people all over the plane discussing what they thought the implications were going to be" when Mr Trump was declared winner.
Since being on the ground in San Antonio, where his company Aspen Medical has ambulance contracts, he had the impression that "a lot of people are pretty surprised" at the Trump win.
ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr said it was too early to assess the full implications of the Trump presidency for Canberra or for Australia.
"It will depend on the policies he actually adopts in office," Mr Barr said. "We will continue to engage with various US Cities on areas of shared interest. It is worth noting that the US cities we have the most engagement with – Washington DC, San Francisco, Portland and Austin – are all strongly Democratic."
Liberal leader Alistair Coe declined to comment on the Trump ascendancy.
