This week our cover in Europe and America explores how businesses will be affected if Donald Trump wins a second term as America’s president later this year. When Mr Trump left office in 2021, executives were relieved. Although many had enjoyed his generous business-tax cuts, they had also distanced themselves from his most outrageous pronouncements and tut-tutted about protectionism. Now, after Mr Trump stormed to success in the Iowa caucuses earlier this week, businesses are being forced to confront the possibility of his retaking the White House. Saying what Mr Trump might do is, as ever, hard, but this unpredictability could make a second Trump term worse than the first. The idea that business leaders could keep their heads down and focus on profits is fanciful.

Leader: Donald Trump is winning. Business beware
Business: Many CEOs fear a second Trump term would be worse than the first
Business: Donald Trump’s populism is turning off corporate donors

In the rest of the world, meanwhile, our cover explores the electoral might of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the political juggernaut headed by India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi. Mr Modi looks all but certain to lead the BJP to victory in elections due to be held by May, but his party’s illiberalism, as exemplified by a new Hindu temple in Ayodhya in northern India, could spell trouble for India’s economic progress. To fulfil his dream of making India a great power Mr Modi needs to show restraint, not abandon. Failure would dash the hopes of Indians, and the prospects for the brightest spot in the world economy.

Leader: Narendra Modi’s illiberalism may imperil India’s economic progress
Briefing: Narendra Modi’s electoral juggernaut looks unstoppable
Banyan: How Hindu is India’s foreign policy?