TRUMP GLOBAL TARIFF STRIKE; LNP PORT VOW
Trump cites National Emergency to lob tariffs on trading partners
US President Donald Trump has kept his vow to introduce wide-ranging tariffs on imports into the United States, with Australian exports to the US to be slugged with a 10 per cent tariff. In his Executive Order, the President declared a ‘National Emergency’ to address persistent US deficits in the trade of goods, which he said had grown by more than 40 per cent in the past five years, reaching US$1.2 trillion in 2024. Australia is ranked at the lowest level of the proposed tariff regime; other nations have been hit harder, such as Vietnam (46 per cent), Cambodia (49 per cent), Thailand (36 per cent) and China (34 per cent). President Trump slammed the use of tariff rates among US trading partners, as well as the imposition of a host of non-tariff barriers, such as technical barriers, inadequate intellectual property protections, and non-scientific sanitary and phytosanitary rules.
PM pledge to toughen anti-dumping regime
Responding to the US tariff imposition, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese noted that the US accounted for less than five per cent of Australia’s exports. He used the announcement, however, to pledge that a Labor government would provide $50 million to affected sectors, particularly through peak bodies to secure and grow new markets. In addition, the PM promised to strengthen Australia's anti-dumping regime to safeguard key sectors like aluminium, steel and manufacturing against unfair competition. Mr Albanese said a new program would be established to provide $1 billion in zero interest loans for firms to capitalise on new export opportunities.
Trade surplus slipping as exports ease
Unlike the United States, Australia continues to post international trade surpluses in goods. The balance of trade in goods, however, is continuing to trend downwards, with a 3.6 per cent fall in goods exports in February. Figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics show that the monthly trade balance on goods fell by more than $2 billion, seasonally adjusted, to $2.9 billion, as goods imports rose by 1.6 per cent, driven by capital goods. A monthly surge in non-monetary gold exports in January was not sustained in February. Australia’s balance of trade in goods peaked at a $18.5 billion surplus in June 2022, during the post-Covid recovery in trade.
Dutton vows to resume control of Port of Darwin
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has pledged to rescind the lease of the Port of Darwin and return it to Australian ownership or control. Campaigning in Darwin, Mr Dutton said it was a mistake for the port to be leased (in 2015, to the Chinese-owned Landbridge group), but Australia needed to deal with the “strategic circumstances” that it faced at the moment. Noting the recent circumnavigation of Australia by Chinese naval ships, the Coalition Leader said it was important that the national asset was taken back. He said around 100 Australian and allied warships passed through the waters near Darwin each year.
Labor commits $2.3 billion for solar-powered batteries
Households and small business with solar panels will be able to access cheaper batteries to store electricity, under a major campaign commitment by Federal Labor. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said a re-elected Labor government would provide $2.3 billion from July this year to subsidise batteries, reducing the cost of a typical installed battery by 30 per cent. He said there had been four million rooftop solar installations across Australia, but only one in 40 households had a battery.
Coalition vows to cut international student numbers
In a bid to ease housing pressures, the Coalition has pledged to cut the number of international students enrolled in Australia’s higher education and vocational education and training institutions. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the number of international students studying in Australia had risen 65 per cent in three years, from almost 520,000 in the year to the 2022 election, to more than 850,000 now. He said that in some courses at Australian universities, up to 80 per cent of students were international students. A Coalition government would reduce the number of new international students commencing at public universities by at least 30,000 per year compared with Labor.