US politics live: Donald Trump doubles down on Gaza plan, says warzone is ‘big real estate’ opportunity

Donald Trump has ignored global backlash to his Gaza plan and pushed on with his claims the US can turn the warzone into “big real estate”.

Welcome to another week of potential political madness in the United States. This is our live coverage of the Trump administration, which is now three weeks old.

President Donald Trump has announced whopping new tariffs on steel and alumunium - two of Australia’s biggest exports to the US, worth hundreds of millions of dollars a year.

Australia secured an exemption from similar tariffs during his first term. This time, there is not yet any indication that such an exemption will be on offer.

And the task of at least trying to acquire one will be made harder by the personnel involved. Chiefly former prime minister Kevin Rudd, who now serves as our ambassador in the US, and has a history of sharply critiquing Mr Trump.

Anthony Albanese told the House of Representatives, this afternoon, that he had scheduled a call with the President.

Elsewhere it was Super Bowl Sunday in the United States (go Philly, by the way), and Mr Trump was in attendance, becoming the first sitting president to watch from the stands.

It capped off an excellent day of political optics, for Mr Trump - and one that rubbed in one final humiliation for his onetime rival, Joe Biden.

We shall explore that question, and more, below. Read on for the latest updates.

Originally published as US politics live: Donald Trump doubles down on Gaza plan, says warzone is ‘big real estate’ opportunity