Key events
Jim Chalmers was in Washington DC overnight.
He was there for talks, and to hear US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent deliver his first major economic policy address since taking office.
Reuters reports that in the wide-ranging speech at an investment conference hosted by the Australian embassy in Washington, Bessent said his goal was “to re-privatise the economy”.
Bessent said Trump’s planned tariffs were a tool to correct and manage internal imbalances in other economies, and deter excess production and supply from other countries, such as China.
In deciding on reciprocal tariff rates, Trump’s administration, including the Treasury, will examine a wide range of factors, including other countries’ tariff rates, non-tariff barriers and currency practices, Bessent said.
Asked about how Australia, which has a US free-trade agreement, was doing in this regard, Bessent said, “so far, so good, but I’m not [US official trade agency] USTR.”
He said he discussed Australia’s request to be exempted from Trump’s restored 25% global steel and aluminium tariffs during a meeting with Chalmers. He added however that that was a matter for the commerce department and USTR to decide.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with some of the top overnight stories before Emily Wind takes you through the day.
The boss of Creative Australia has conceded at a late-night Senate estimates hearing that the Australian Pavilion at next year’s Venice Biennale may remain empty following its decision to rescind the contracts of the artist and curator it chose to represent the country. But Adrian Collette and the chair Robert Morgan told to Senate estimates last night they would not resign over the fiasco. More coming up.
The chief executive of Universities Australia will warn in an address to the National Press Club today that Labor’s ‘“jobs-ready” graduate scheme is self-defeating on an epic scale. Luke Sheehy says the scheme has cost almost $1bn annually, the equivalent of 33,000 fewer places per year, and will use his speech to urge Labor to scrap the program introduced by the Coalition in 2021. More details coming up.
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And the treasurer was in Washington DC overnight, arguing for an exemption to the US’s broad new tariffs on steel and aluminium. Did he succeed? We’ll soon find out.
