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Foreign relations

This Month

President Donald Trump arrives to speak at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) dinner at the National Building Museum in Washington.

Trump mocks world leaders as huge new tariffs take effect

The president’s aggressive levies on America’s largest trading partners were introduced at 2pm AEST, even as he touted potential deals with some allies.

Albanese rang his Labour soulmate in Britain, Keir Starmer, to discuss the Trump tariffs, when surely he should have first called counterparts  in South East Asia.

Trump’s tariffs deliver a harsh truth for Australia

Too little thought has been given to the future of the Australian economy against the backdrop of a protectionist America.

President Donald Trump with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, left, at the White House, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025, in Washington.

Clock ticks on Keir Starmer’s cautious Trump strategy

The UK prime minister set himself apart from most other European leaders by taking a pragmatic approach to the US that detractors have accused of being fawning.

The White House was last week forced to hose down Politico and ABC reports that Donald Trump had told members of his cabinet that Elon Musk would soon depart and return to the private sector.

Musk splits with Trump on tariffs, wants US-EU free trade zone

The billionaire and presidential adviser told Italy’s League party that he’d like America and Europe to move “to a zero-tariff situation”.

US President Donald Trump tosses a “Make America Great Again” hat during his tariff announcement in the Rose Garden of the White House on Wednesday.

Trump just gave China a free kick to tilt Asia in its favour

Poor South-East Asian and Pacific nations are among the hardest hit by US tariffs, handing an advantage to Beijing in the race for regional influence.

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The Trump tariff winners and losers

The US president’s heavy-handed move to hit trading partners with levies as high as 49 per cent has sent markets tumbling. But it’s not a disaster for everyone.

Donald Trump and liberation day.

How Trump’s tariffs will hit Australia, in four charts

The direct effect will be modest but, for a trading nation such as ours, the indirect consequences of “liberation day” could be significant.

March

Donald Trump says he is “pissed off” at Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump ‘pissed off’ with Putin, threatens tariffs on Russian oil

The US president is angry at the autocrat’s suggestions of how to install a new leadership in Ukraine and sideline Volodymyr Zelensky.

President Donald Trump.

‘Never seen anything like it’: Trump’s outrageous new Ukraine deal

The latest version of Donald Trump’s “minerals deal” is unprecedented in the history of modern diplomacy and state relations.

New Canadian PM Mark Carney has made opposition to Donald Trump the centrepiece of his campaign.

Trump moment drives Carney’s ‘Canada First’ election campaign

Even some usually Conservative voters have announced they will vote for the Liberal prime minister based on his promise to handle the bombastic US president.

Ships, including grain from Ukraine, await inspections near Istanbul in 2022.

US agrees to help Russia lift exports in Ukraine talks

Russia and Ukraine agreed to pause their attacks at sea, according to the US. Washington also agreed to help Moscow boost agriculture and fertiliser exports.

A PLA Chengdu J-20S stealth fighter jet on the tarmac at an air show in China in November.

China ‘presents’ top military, cybersecurity threat to US

Beijing is using “whole of government” efforts including military, economic and influence operations to assert itself, the American intelligence community said.

US President Donald Trump says the next stage of his trade plan will focus on reciprocal tariffs

GST shapes up as Trump trade tariff exemption stumbling block

The US President says he will give ‘a lot of countries breaks’ but officials warn it remains difficult to tell what will be counted as a trade barrier.

Trump’s tango with Russia’s autocrat Vladimir Putin over the terms of a ceasefire deal between Russia and Ukraine has sowed doubts.

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.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson, from Louisiana, Donald Trump announce plans by Hyundai to expand a factory in Louisiana.

Trump may give ‘a lot of countries breaks’ on tariffs

The US administration, however, named Australia among countries it is focusing on for possible levies on April 2, sowing more confusion about the trade war.

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Defence remains probably the best barometer of the Australian response to Donald Trump so far.

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.

Elon Musk and Donald Trump in a Tesla at the White House.

Labor warns Musk not to meddle in election

Andrew Leigh warned against election interference, as US digital giants lobby Donald Trump to pressure Australia to water down crackdowns on big tech and multinational tax.

President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and his son at the White House.

Musk to see top-secret plan for possible China war

Giving the billionaire access to closely guarded military secrets is a major expansion of his role as an adviser to Donald Trump.

Donald Trump is threatening to defund research projects that contravene his ideological agenda.

US giants lash Labor’s tax crackdown amid Trump trade war

Major American companies have complained to the White House trade office over Labor’s tax crackdown on multinationals amid intense tariff negotiations.

Macquarie’s Viktor Shvets says investors now find themselves in a 1930s world.

Macquarie’s Viktor Shvets sees a world on fire. Here’s how to play it

Investors have been slow to wake up to the scale of change Donald Trump is trying to engineer, in part because it seems so wild. But inertia could be costly.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/foreign-relations-1m35