US politics live: EU leaders promise ‘firm’ response to Donald Trump’s tariffs

EU leaders have come out swinging in response to Donald Trump’s tariffs, which are poised to shake the entire globe in a matter of weeks.

Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of our live US politics coverage.

Australia has a greater stake than usual in today’s events, given Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s phone call with Donald Trump. The pair discussed yesterday’s announcement, from the US President, that he intends to impose whopping 25 per cent tariffs on America’s steel and aluminium imports – a move that would hit the Australian economy.

When Mr Trump imposed similar tariffs during his first presidency, Australia was one of several trading partners that secured an exemption. Mr Albanese hopes he can repeat that feat, though this time it might be harder.

After this morning’s phone call, he said an exemption was “under consideration”. About an hour later, however, Mr Trump signed executive orders imposing the tariffs in the Oval Office, and stressed that they would operate “without exemptions”.

Awkward.

The President has also further clarified his intentions regarding the Gaza Strip, both in the short term and the long term.

In said short term, he threatened that “all hell will break out” if Hamas fails to keep releasing its Israeli hostages, as previously promised.

In the longer term, Mr Trump has said in unambiguous terms that Gaza’s current Palestinian residents – all twoish million of them – should have no right to return once the rebuilding of Gaza is done.

Read on for the latest updates.

Originally published as US politics live: EU leaders promise ‘firm’ response to Donald Trump’s tariffs