As it happened: ASX tumbles after Trump confirms 10 per cent tariffs on all Australian goods; PM says decision ‘unwarranted’

Thanks for reading our rolling federal election blog. This is where we’ll end today’s coverage.

To conclude, here’s a look back at the day’s major stories:

• America faces a recession and the world a slowdown that could force the Reserve Bank into cutting Australian interest rates within weeks, after Donald Trump upended 60 years of free trade by imposing sweeping tariffs today.
• Anthony Albanese was the first world leader to respond to the announcement. He described Trump’s tariffs as “unwarranted” with “no basis in logic” and revealed a five-point plan to support Australian industry.
• Peter Dutton backed the government’s new measures, but said he could have negotiated a better outcome with the Trump administration.
• The PM fell off a stage and was disrupted by protesters as he campaigned around the Hunter Valley in NSW today.
• The opposition leader spent the day in Western Australia, where he announced a plan for a $600 million national mining and agriculture roads program.

Our live coverage will resume before 7am tomorrow AEDT.

Thanks for your company. Have a good night.

The Australian Electoral Commission has cleared Abbie Chatfield of any wrongdoing after it reviewed whether her combined posts with Anthony Albanese and Adam Bandt breached laws.

Acting electoral commissioner Jeff Pope told Senate estimates last week he would review whether Chatfield’s posts with the party leaders should have an authorisation message.

Content endorsing candidates or instructing people how to vote is legally required to include this, although news media outlets are exempt.

On Wednesday, the AEC confirmed it was reviewing the posts, and on Thursday found Chatfield’s podcast did not need an authorisation statement.

Read the full story here.

Defence Minister Richard Marles has savaged Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s comments about using the defence relationship with the US to negotiate carve-outs from Trump’s tariff regime.

Calling Dutton’s intervention “extraordinary”, Marles said: “Our defence relationship between Australia and the United States transcends any administration in Washington and any government in Canberra.

“It is deep and organic and integral, and so to be saying now that there is a question in respect of it going forward – which is what Peter Dutton has done – is loose, and it is reckless,” said Marles at a Perth press conference.

Shadow trade minister Kevin Hogan said the PM has not done enough to get Australia an exemption for US tariffs.

Federal NSW Nationals MP Kevin Hogan.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

“I just don’t get a willingness of the prime minister when he seems to get involved,” Hogan told ABC Afternoon Briefing.

“He said on Sunday on [ABC’s] Insiders he’s leaving it to officials; I just don’t think that’s the way he should be working this.”

Hogan also said the tariffs would sting Americans citizens the most.

“This not Liberation Day, but I think history will view this as a judgement day on America and the Trump administration.”

The opposition leader says the ban on live sheep exports was “one most shameful acts of this government” as he campaigns to win back votes in WA.

The Albanese government last year legislated to phase out the trade by 2028. It operates only in Western Australia thanks to its proximity to the Middle East.

The industry is worth just $77 million to the national economy and has been under pressure for years because of animal cruelty concerns, but some fear a ban would devastate farming families in WA.

“We’ve really hung our own farmers out to dry,” Peter Dutton said on 6PR this hour.

“And I think it’s one of the most shameful acts of this government.”

Peter Dutton is continuing to attack Anthony Albanese for failing to get another phone call with Donald Trump, who slapped a 10 per cent tariff on Australian exports to the US today.

“It’s clear that ambassador Rudd can’t get through the front door. The prime minister just doesn’t have the gravitas,” the opposition leader said on 6PR on Perth just now.

“I think he’s seen as a weak leader on the international stage. And unfortunately, it’s our farmers and our country that’s paying the price for that.”

The prime minister is heading to Sydney where he will spend Friday campaigning.

Australian shares have clawed back some of the morning’s losses after fears over US tariffs eased during the trading session.

The S&P/ASX200 was down 74.4 points, or 0.94 per cent, to 7860.1 at market close.

Eight of 11 sectors were weaker into the close, with energy stocks, IT, real estate and materials stocks each shedding 1.9 per cent or more. The defensive consumer staples sector managed a 1.1 per cent gain.

The top-200 tanked as much as 2.1 per cent in early trading, the equivalent of almost $50 billion, after the worse-than-expected US tariff announcement sparked a broad sell-off.

The Australian dollar was slightly lower against the greenback, buying US62.72c, down from US62.94c at 5pm on Wednesday.

Read more here.

AAP

Here are more reactions from across the world to the biggest story of today: Trump slapping tariffs on a slew of new countries.

Getting a carve-out from Trump’s tariffs will be much harder now than in 2018, says former US ambassador and ex-Liberal senator Arthur Sinodinos.

In 2018, then-PM Malcolm Turnbull secured Australia an exemption from US steel and aluminum tariffs, but Sinodinos told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing today he believed the current administration was less likely to budge.

Arthur Sinodinos in February.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

“I think it would be much tougher to get a deal this time around than, say, 2018. The Trump administration are determined to have higher tariffs,” says Sinodinos.

“The president, he’s leaving the door open ... but it’s a hard environment for any country to get an exception here in the US at the moment.”