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Australia's fresh shot at Trump on tariffs
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has taken a fresh shot at the Trump administration's tariffs, boasting Australia's lower interest rates show hiking import taxes is 'bad for the American economy'. A chipper Mr Chalmers fronted morning shows on Thursday to spruik the latest inflation data. The figures, released on Wednesday, showed the annual inflation rate fell to 2.1 per cent for the June quarter – the lowest rate since 2021. The result has all-but guaranteed the Reserve Bank will cut interest rates next month. In his morning appearances, Mr Chalmers was eager to highlight that the progress on inflation came despite 'uncertainty' gripping the global economy. Much of that uncertainty stems from Donald Trump's tariffs, which the US President is threatening to continue hiking. Asked by the ABC if he was expecting Australia to be hit with a higher baseline rate, Mr Chalmers said the Albanese government had not 'heard differently from the 10 per cent baseline that's been levied on Australia'. 'Obviously, we continue to engage with the Americans on this,' he told the national broadcaster. 'It's one of the main issues playing out in the global economy. 'It's a major source of uncertainty in the economy, whether it's what's been said overnight about India, whether it's the back and forth between the US and China or the tariffs levied directly on Australia.' Pressed on whether he expected that rate to move, he was hesitant to make a call. 'These tariff announcements are a moving feast, but our understanding, our expectation is we get the baseline,' Mr Chalmers said. 'We think that the best outcome is zero because these tariffs are an act of economic self‑harm. 'We see inflation is going up in the US. 'Earlier in the year they had slowing growth, interest rates on hold again in the US overnight, they've got higher interest rates than we do in Australia.' Mr Chalmers went on to say the 'tariffs are bad for the American economy, certainly bad for the global economy'. 'We're better placed and better prepared than most countries to deal with that, but we won't be immune,' Mr Chalmers said. 'We'll continue to engage with the Americans on it.' Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data
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After outcry, L.A. restricts duplexes in Pacific Palisades
As rebuilding ramps up in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles leaders are restricting the building of duplexes on single-family-home lots. The move follows an executive order issued Wednesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom that allows exemptions for the Palisades and other areas devastated by January's Palisades and Eaton fires from Senate Bill 9. The landmark 2021 law, passed in response to the state's housing shortage, lets property owners divide single-family-home lots and build duplexes, triplexes or fourplexes. In recent days, Palisades residents have raised alarms about SB 9, worrying that their historically single-family-home community would be transformed by the additional density allowed under the law and become more dangerous in the event of future fires. On Jan. 7, the chaotic evacuation amidst the flames led residents to abandon their cars on Sunset Boulevard and escape on foot, forcing bulldozers to clear the road so emergency responders could enter the area. No outcry has erupted over the addition of accessory dwelling units in Palisades rebuilds, even though they could bring similar increases in building, and have been far more common in permit applications. Some 4,700 single-family homes were destroyed or majorly damaged in the Palisades fire, the majority of which were in the city of Los Angeles. Read more: After push from L.A., Newsom plans to weaken state duplex law in wildfire areas Newsom's order applies to the Palisades and parts of Malibu and Altadena — areas that burned and that are designated as 'very high fire hazard severity zones' by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. It implemented a week-long pause on SB 9 projects to allow the city and county of Los Angeles and Malibu to develop restrictions. In response, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who alongside City Councilmember Traci Park had urged Newsom to act this week, issued an executive order blocking future SB 9 development in the Palisades. "I thank Governor Newsom for working with my office to provide some sense of solace for a community working to rebuild,' Bass said in a statement accompanying the order. Since the fire, the prospects of greater density, including increased affordable housing, has raised tensions in the neighborhood. Some of the debates have been mired in misinformation and conspiracy theories falsely asserting that the wealthy community would be rezoned for mass building of low-income apartments. But residents retain deep scars from January's tumultuous evacuation and fear it would be even worse with a larger population, said Larry Vein, founder of wildfire recovery group Pali Strong. They also desire the area to return to the predominately single-family-home neighborhood it was, he said. 'The community does not want higher density,' Vein said. Read more: Conspiracy theories thwart rebuilding plan after L.A. County wildfires Officials' push to restrict SB 9 construction stands in stark contrast to their efforts to allow more building on single-family-home lots through different means. Newsom and Bass each issued earlier executive orders to streamline permitting reviews for accessory dwelling units on single-family-home properties in burn zones. There are some practical distinctions between the two ways of adding homes. Generally, ADU law permits up to three units on a lot. SB 9 can allow four or potentially more if combined with ADU law. SB 9 units often can be larger than ADUs as well. Yet the possibility of increased ADU construction has not attracted the same opposition in the community; instead, data indicates it's been popular. The Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety does not specifically track permit requests for ADUs or SB 9 projects among home rebuilds, and could not immediately verify their numbers. However, department rebuilding data analyzed by the Times includes a description of each proposed development that is supposed to note if an additional unit is planned. As of July 28, 500 homeowners had submitted permitting applications to rebuild in the Palisades, the Times analysis of department data found. Of those, 73 — nearly 15% — included at least one ADU, according to project descriptions. Per the descriptions, three intend to use SB 9, but that number is an undercount, said Devin Myrick, the department's assistant deputy superintendent of building. Myrick said the department was still analyzing its data to come up with the actual amount of SB 9 projects. Property owners have cited ADU construction as a way to return to the Palisades more quickly, with some planning to build an ADU before tackling their primary home. For others, the opportunity for building any additional unit, under ADU law or SB 9, provides a financial benefit that could be used to cover gaps in the cost to rebuild. Read more: Palisades could rebuild with more affordable housing. But many in the wealthy area oppose the idea Vein said Palisades residents are friendlier to ADUs because their construction may not necessarily lead to a larger population. Many people, he said, would use an ADU to work from home, as a guest house or allow members of multigenerational families to have their own space. By contrast, he said, SB 9 duplexes inevitably will add people. 'You've just doubled the density,' he said. Some pro-development organizations are blasting the SB 9 restrictions. Matthew Lewis, a spokesperson for California YIMBY, which advocates for greater homebuilding across the state, said that residents' evacuation concerns are legitimate but that officials should focus on resolving that issue rather than limiting duplexes. Lewis said the proliferation of ADUs in the rebuild shows that it's not actually the potential for increased building that's motivating the opposition. Instead, he said community groups and L.A. politicians are using that argument to thwart a law they've long disliked because it expressly calls for changes to single-family-home neighborhoods. 'What we're talking about is a powerful constituency making enough noise to cause a suspension of laws that were duly passed by the state Legislature,' Lewis said. 'That's very concerning.' Bass believes her backing of ADUs and opposition to SB 9 in the Palisades do not conflict, mayoral spokesperson Zachary Seidl said. SB 9 was not anticipated to be used after a major wildfire, he said, while streamlining ADU permitting assists property owners with reconstruction. 'The mayor with both of these positions is supporting community members in the Palisades rebuild,' Seidl said. Times staff writer Douglas Smith contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
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Trump's watered-down copper tariffs almost crush Comex premium
By Lewis Jackson BEIJING (Reuters) -Benchmark copper prices on the London Metals Exchange rose at the open on Thursday as markets continued to claw back the once-mighty U.S. copper price premium in response to the scaled-down U.S. copper tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. Trump said on Wednesday the United States would impose a 50% tariff on copper pipes and wiring, but the levy fell short of the sweeping restrictions expected and left out copper input materials such as ores, concentrates and cathodes. The surprise move dragged down U.S. copper prices more than 18% on the Comex exchange HGc2 and unwound a large part of the premium over the London global benchmark CMCU3 that had grown in recent weeks, with shipments diverted there in anticipation of higher domestic prices. 'We think the LME flips to a premium in the short term due to excess inventories in the U.S.," Anant Jatia, founder and chief investment officer at Greenland Investment Management, a hedge fund specialising in commodity arbitrage trading, told Reuters. "Over time Comex moves back to a premium as inventories draw and downstream tariffs leave a sustained U.S. premium." Benchmark LME copper gained 0.9% to $9,785 a metric ton after markets opened on Thursday. U.S. September Comex copper futures HGc2 briefly hit $4.5095 a lb or $9,941.6 per metric ton, down 19%, shortly after the LME opened before moving back up to hover around 4.5635 a lb or 10,061 a metric ton. At the low, the premium over the London benchmark had fallen to just $157 a ton from recent levels above $3,000 a ton. That premium has sucked in enormous volumes of copper from around the world this year. As recently as a few weeks ago, traders were still redirecting cargoes to the United States in a rush to get copper in country before the tariffs. Trump first teased the tariff in early July, implying that it would apply to all types of the red metal, ranging from cathodes produced by mines and smelters to wiring and other finished products. Yet in a proclamation released by the White House, the administration said the tariff will apply starting this Friday only to pipes, tubes and other semi-finished copper products, as well as products that copper is heavily used to manufacture, including cable and electrical components. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
