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Andrew Tillett

Today

Australia will acquire Virginia class submarines under the AUKUS deal.

AUKUS cash flows to Australian firms despite doubts over pact

Big US defence contractors are starting to enlist local suppliers, countering doom and gloom predictions over Australia’s plan to acquire nuclear-powered subs.

This Month

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, centre, and French President Emmanuel Macron, right, are seeking a coalition of the willing to provide military support to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

PM to join world leaders’ talks on Ukraine peacekeepers

Anthony Albanese will take part in a hook-up of dozens of world leaders to discuss ending Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

US President Donald Trump and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

How Australia was blindsided on the US tariffs

Australia pulled out all stops to avoid Donald Trump’s duties on steel and aluminium, but “it’s impossible to negotiate with someone who doesn’t want anything”.

Australian beef exports to China reached new highs in October, topping 30,000 tonnes for the month.

Billions in beef exports at stake from Trump’s tariff war

US cattle ranchers and sheep graziers have recently restated their long-standing complaints against the Australian industry.

Harley-Davidson motorcycles will be hit with a 50 per cent tariff in Europe in response to Donald Trump’s trade war.

Bourbon, bikes and blue jeans: Hitting back against Trump’s tariffs

Canada, China and Europe have gone hardest in imposing retaliatory duties. Australia has joined Japan, South Korea and the UK in holding fire.

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US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

PM uses critical minerals as bargaining chip in Trump tariff war

Australia is using its supply of critical minerals as leverage with the Trump Administration, in a bid to avoid a second wave of tariffs.

Donald Trump in one of Elon Musk’s Teslas at the White House on Tuesday.

Trump’s tariffs were inevitable. But Albanese could have done more

Levies on Australian steel and aluminium to the US starting on Wednesday will have domestic political fallout.

US President Donald Trump walks down the stairs of Air Force One as he returns to Washington from Florida.

How world leaders are managing Trump

Malcolm Turnbull warns against forming a “conga line of sycophants”, but there is no universal view on the best way to handle relations with the US president.

Ukrainian firefighters work in Kharkiv following a Russian rocket attack on Friday. Russia has unleashed a furious bombardment at critical Ukrainian infrastructure, after the US decided to withhold intelligence assistance.

Russia slams Albanese’s ‘irresponsible adventurism’ over peacekeepers

The Russian embassy has warned of grave consequences if Australia backs a European-led mission to protect Ukraine.

US President Donald Trump and former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Trump lashes Turnbull on eve of tariff call

As Australia pushes for an exemption from US metals tariffs, Malcolm Turnbull has angered Donald Trump with a stinging take-down of his presidential style.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (right) has changed his election plans.

Labor dumps April election plans, prepares March budget amid cyclone threat

The federal government is ramping up preparations for a March budget after Cyclone Alfred upended Anthony Albanese’s plan to call an election this weekend.

US President Donald Trump signs an executive order in the Oval Office, partially exempting Canadian and Mexican goods from tariffs.

Rudd’s crunch talks on tariffs as Trump sows more trade chaos

Kevin Rudd will lead last-ditch talks to spare Australian steel and aluminium exports from tariffs despite Trump’s insistence there will be no modifications.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese insists Australia and not the Trump administration will determine the size of our defence budget.

Albanese rebuffs Trump over call to lift to defence spending

While Labor comes under fire over military readiness, figures show defence spending as a share of the federal budget is at highest in almost a decade.

Donald Trump addresses Congress as Vice President J.D. Vance and Speaker Mike Johnston  applaud.

Trump doubles down on tariff war as Chalmers, RBA warn of local hit

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says Australia will continue to lobby for an exemption from US tariffs for steel and aluminium.

Elbridge Colby is Donald Trump’s choice to be under-secretary of defence for policy at the Pentagon.

Trump aide warns Australia to lift defence spending to combat China

Labor defends it record on military budget, as Chinese flotilla exposes vulnerabilities and government opens door to sending peacekeepers to Ukraine.

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Donald Trump has consistently justified the action by claiming Beijing has failed to address the flow of fentanyl into America – an accusation Chinese officials have dismissed as “blackmail”.

China hits US farms in tariff fightback

A trade war between the world’s two biggest economies has officially erupted after Beijing hit back at the US with tit-for-tat tariffs, rocking markets.

Trump clashed with Zelensky in the Oval Office on Friday.

Albanese opens door to troops in Ukraine as Trump cuts Kyiv loose

The prime minister’s willingness to consider any request for Australian peacekeepers contrasts with Peter Dutton.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Kevin Rudd at last week’s super summit.

Worried about the world? Rudd argues the 1980s were scarier

Kevin Rudd has attempted to soothe strategic anxieties as Donald Trump upends the international order.

An F-35 Joint Strike Fighter at the Avalon air show, 2017.

Dutton’s plan for warplanes panned

Defence analysts believe buying drones, fixing the navy and upgrading bases is a more important priority if defence spending is increased.

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, Britain’s Keir Starmer and France’s Emmanuel Macron in London on Sunday.

Trump’s Ukraine spat puts Australia in a pickle

Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton are in the rare position of being publicly at odds with the leader of the nation’s strongest ally.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/by/andrew-tillett-gw5pow