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Jennifer Hewett

This Month

What will China’s latest move to restrict exports to counter Trump do to a US car manufacturing industry in turmoil

China weaponises rare earths in tariff war

China’s dominance in processing rare earths metals and high-performance magnets means Beijing’s curbs on the crucial exports are a major threat to US manufacturing.

Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese at their campaign launches

Tax cuts, housing help: parties spend big to grab attention and votes

A federal budget far less healthy than previous ones hasn’t reined in Labor’s willingness to spend and spend more, and the Coalition is ready to counter in kind.

Labor’s efforts to link Dutton to Trump are proving effective

Like the rest of the world, WA politics has been upended by Donald Trump’s reckless tariff war, which has a sharp edge in a resources-dependent economy closely intertwined with China’s growth.

Bran Black, CEO of the Business Council of Australia says that it cannot support new ASX governance rules at this time.

‘Trump-proof’ Australia, business leaders tell Chalmers

Business groups have rounded on Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton in the election campaign to shore up Australia’s economy against Donald Trump’s trade war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with Donald Trump in the Oval Office.

Trump’s game of bluff on tariffs and tax

China is threatening to “fight to the end” if America imposes yet more tariffs. The respite on global sharemarkets is likely to be temporary if trade tensions continue to escalate.

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Donald Trump leaves Air Force One on his way back to the White House to confront a panic week on Wall Street

Tariff maelstrom bears down on Dutton’s election hopes

Labor is as alarmed as any government as Donald Trump’s sharemarket carnage unfolds. But it also sees a political advantage.

In his relentless Make America Great Again drive, Donald Trump has little care for the economic pain inflicted on others and even relishes it when the targets are American allies.

Trump’s colossal misjudgment will cost the US – and the world – dearly

Donald Trump is pretending the sharemarket carnage is all part of his grand plan to use tariffs to reboot the US economy. What happens when Main Street revolts?

Global leaders had to wait until Donald Trump’s Rose Garden press conference to learn their fate.

How Trump has soured my American dream

There was a chilling edge to the president’s declaration this would be “an entirely different country within a short period of time”.

Shell’s Queensland Curtis LNG supplies about 65 petajoules or just under 15 per cent of the domestic market.

Australia counts cost of gas manoeuvres

Peter Dutton is the latest political leader with a new plan to lower energy prices. Will his gas policy work any better than all the others?

RBA governor Michele Bullock

RBA won’t join desperate guessing game

Central banks are as much on edge as markets, as the world waits to learn the impact and extent of Donald Trump’s tariffs. Caution reigns at the Reserve Bank.

March

Why Albanese is confident of winning – partly thanks to Trump

The government quietly hopes the Trump effect will boost its chances, but the focus of the election campaign will be resolutely on domestic cost-of-living pressures.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers

Chalmers’ tax wedge gives Dutton licence to thrill

The Albanese government is trying to fashion a tactical victory from budget strategic failure, but Peter Dutton has a chance to turn the tables.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers is preparing his fourth budget during the Trump uncertainty.

The smallness of thinking leaves the country marooned in a sea of debt

Economic reform? Managing global risk? No, this budget is all about Labor struggling back into office with the promise of better to come.

Bill Shorten, new vice chancellor of the University of Canberra

Friendly fire hits Australian universities

Local universities are caught up in Donald Trump’s culture wars. But the threat is partly home-grown and self-inflicted.

US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Budget inaction is not what’s needed at a time of Trump turbulence

Jim Chalmers’ budget will set the scene for an election campaign dominated by global noise but domestic policy silence.

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US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke for nearly two hours.

Trump’s MAGA dreams conjure a world nightmare

Donald Trump values his relationship with dictators far more than that with democratic allies, making the global economic and national security interests a combustible mix.

APRA chairman John Lonsdale at The Australian Financial Review Banking Summit.

APRA holds firm against deregulation push

The banking regulator is resisting the US push for greater deregulation to boost growth. But can that last given the international upheaval under way?

Lynas’s Mount Weld rare earth project in Western Australia.

Reality bites critical-minerals hopes

Australia’s ambition of processing critical minerals is still mostly a dream, and one that won’t persuade Donald Trump to withhold tariffs on our exports.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen.

Consumers trapped by rising cost of energy failure and power bills

Power prices will be a key election topic as Labor sells the benefits of renewables and the Coalition insists nuclear offers the only affordable answer. But under both plans, it’s customers who will pay.

US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Trump’s tariffs hit markets and politics

It is now clear to world leaders and Wall Street that the president’s version of transactional politics includes the blunt reality of universal levies rather than just the threat of them as a negotiating tactic.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/by/jennifer-hewett-j7gc3