This Month
Trump’s tariff war risks losing South-East Asia to Beijing
The South-East Asian nations are likely to suffer both directly from Trump’s tariffs and their impact on China. This will affect their regional and world views.
Bishop stares down critics: ‘I turn down many more roles than I take on’
Julie Bishop has built one of the most intriguing post-political careers this country has ever seen - and is generating almost as many headlines as before.
April
In Donald Trump we distrust – in record numbers
The Lowy Institute Poll, which has been tracking attitudes to foreign policy since 2005, this year recorded a dramatic 20-point drop in Australians’ trust in the United States to act responsibly.
‘Not fit to fight’: The blind spots in Australia’s defence capability
The government is spending on big and expensive equipment such as submarines, but critics say vital conflict weapons such as drones and missiles need priority.
Election campaign leaves defence questions unanswered
The real leadership test for both sides of politics this Anzac Day is whether they can match remembrance for our military past with readiness for what’s coming.
The next global crisis won’t be about oil or banks – but tech
Unlike during the Cold War, countries will not be able to remain neutral because China and the US will continue to push nations to choose which side of the tech stack they support.
Why Canberra can’t afford to ignore Jakarta
In the shifting tides of the Indo-Pacific, the real danger lies not in Indonesia’s dance with others, but in our failure to keep in step.
Trump’s trade war is a sledgehammer to America’s tech dominance
The president’s instincts on rebalancing the trade deficit with China aren’t wrong, but his methods are constraining the talents that have underwritten the US AI boom.
My China trip made one thing clear about the global trade war
The Chinese mean it when they say they won’t cave to Washington’s escalating threats. They have many cards to play.
The Trump effect is a wrecking ball, and we’re in the blast zone
As the US president declares victory at every turn, he will leave behind a changed world. The implications for Australia are profound.
Trump’s pause no relief from great power showdown on trade
Australia confronts a worrying dilemma as the economic conflict between our major alliance partner and our major trade partner ramps up.
Could Trump’s tariffs decouple Europe from China, too?
The levies may trigger a strategic diversion of Chinese exports from America to the EU, eventually compelling European governments to respond with their own trade barriers.
Morrison-backed space start-up lands NASA tie-up
A start-up chaired by former prime minister Scott Morrison has huge goals of building an Australian spaceport and developing horizontal rocket launch technology.
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?
Yellen and Hockey ride out Trump tariffs at Cafe Sydney
The former US treasury secretary was spotted lunching in Sydney as tariff news roiled global markets.
Trump’s tariffs call for regional foreign policy response
The political class must resist the temptation to be swept up in the parochialism of current events.
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”.
Trump trade risks go back to the 1890s
The president’s American tariff hero William McKinley shows how this new trade war will go wrong.
The day the international economic system died in the Rose Garden
It’s hard to say how bad the impact of Trump’s tariffs will be. But there is no doubt a global trade war would have major impacts on geoeconomic and geostrategic settings.
Why Malcolm Turnbull is wrong about AUKUS
Rather than repeatedly reassessing the submarine program, we should concentrate our political and intellectual capital on ensuring it stays the course.
March
For Trump, the strong do what they can, the weak suffer what they must
The US president’s hastiness to secure peace overlooks the often laborious work usually required for a long-term, stable and durable solution to a conflict.
Australia should look to uranium as a chance to dodge Trump’s tariffs
Developing processing of the nuclear fuel with American firms would address US national security concerns and also attract significant interest from Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
The fundamental problem at the heart of defence policy
Australia is facing its most dangerous external environment since the Second World War. Yet, its capacity to deliver a meaningful capability to meet the hour operates on Old Father Time.
Trump’s strange affair with Putin and Xi leaves allies out in the cold
The direct dealings between the American and Russian presidents in deciding Europe’s eastern front have the whiff of Yalta in 1945.
Anti-Jewish attitudes are ‘baked into the Western inheritance’
Many of us are advocates for much of what the West has brought to the world, but the portion of its foundations that are anti-Jewish and antisemitic have to be removed and replaced, warns Rabbi Benjamin Elton.