Will Australia be hit with new Trump tariffs? The govt has no idea
Trump's latest 'D-Day' in his trade war is August 1, his deadline for imposing higher tariffs on countries that have not managed to negotiate a trade deal with the US.
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Perth Now
4 minutes ago
- Perth Now
New era of trans-Tasman co-operation in turbulent world
Australia and New Zealand are entering a new era of co-operation as leaders from both nations embrace shared values in an increasingly turbulent world. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Queenstown for a two-day meeting with his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon, marking his second time crossing the Tasman as leader after last visiting in 2023. In a show of the bond between the two nations, Mr Luxon warmly embraced the Australian prime minister as they met on Saturday for leadership talks. The first day centred on unity between the two nations and how they can co-operate on various issues, including safeguarding security and prosperity in an increasingly uncertain geo-strategic environment. This included committing to further integrating the two nations' economies in the "most unpredictable and dangerous" strategic environment in decades. Foreign policy challenges relating to dealing with China, the United States and China's encroachment in the South Pacific region would be agenda-topping issues during the talks, University of Otago politics researcher Nicholas Khoo said. Both leaders agreed that competition between the world's superpowers, China and the US, needed to be managed, and continued dialogue was important to reduce risks of misunderstanding, miscalculation, escalation and conflict in the Pacific region. China was the main topic on everyone's lips, with the pair discussing their grave concerns over its increasingly "dangerous and provocative" behaviour in the South China Sea. Mr Luxon said the Asian superpower was a significant player in the world and a permanent feature of global affairs. "We have an approach which is about co-operating where we can ... We disagree where we must. We have different systems, different values," he said, which Mr Albanese echoed. Both leaders praised work to strengthen military co-operation, which Prof Khoo said was appropriate given the increasing uncertainty in international politics. "It's an area where we could legitimately expect to see very real progress," he told AAP. Prof Khoo said this meeting showed the two neighbours' "steady build-up" of co-operation, which he said didn't exist until two years ago. '"This is, in some aspects, a new era of co-operation, which is a positive development for both sides," he said. Prof Khoo said New Zealand only had one alliance partner in Australia, and this summit showed its investment in that relationship. "In these very turbulent times, this is one of the linchpins of regional security that deserves the attention," he said. The Australian and New Zealand standards bodies have also announced a new agreement to renew joint standards arrangements, which will streamline regulations for certain sectors, including construction, healthcare and manufacturing, to boost economic growth. In a sign of closer ties, Mr Albanese joked about going for a "cuddle" as both leaders sauntered off after the media conference arm-in-arm, laughing.
News.com.au
32 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Russia cautious on Armenia-Azerbaijan deal, Iran reject border corridor
Russia cautiously welcomed a US-brokered draft deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan on Saturday, but Moscow's regional ally Iran rejected the idea of a new border corridor backed by President Donald Trump. The two former Soviet republics signed a peace deal in Washington on Friday to end a decades-long conflict, though the fine print and binding nature of the deal remained unclear. The US-brokered agreement includes establishing a transit corridor through Armenia to connect Azerbaijan to its exclave of Nakhchivan, a longstanding demand of Baku. The United States would have development rights for the corridor -- dubbed the "Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity" -- in the strategic and resource-rich region. But Russia's ally and the warring parties' southern neighbour Tehran said it would not allow the creation of a such a corridor running along the Iranian border. "With the implementation of this plot, the security of the South Caucasus will be endangered," Akbar Velayati, an advisor to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei told the Tasnim news agency. The planned corridor was "an impossible notion and will not happen", while the area would become "a graveyard for Trump's mercenaries", he added. In a similar tone, Moscow said it would "further analyze" the corridor clause, noting there were trilateral agreements in place between Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, from which no one had yet withdrawn. "It should not be ignored that Armenia's border with Iran is guarded by Russian border guards," said Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. Moscow, previously a key backer of Armenia, still has a military base there. Embroiled in its Ukraine operation, launched in 2022, it did not intervene in the latest conflict. This has strained the historically warm ties between Yerevan and Moscow, home to a large and influential Armenian diaspora, triggering Armenia's drift towards the West. - Waning influence - Christian-majority Armenia and Muslim-majority Azerbaijan went to war twice over their border and the status of ethnic enclaves within each other's territories. Moscow, once the main power broker in the Caucasus, is now bogged down in its more than three-year offensive in Ukraine, diverting political and military resources into the grinding conflict of attrition. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan praised the US efforts in settling the conflict. Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev even said he would back President Donald Trump's nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. The US-led NATO alliance welcomed the deal as a "significant step forward". But in Moscow, Zakharova refrained from even calling it a deal, referring to it merely as "the meeting of the leaders of the South Caucasus republics in Washington" -- adding, however, that it still deserved "a positive assessment". - Repackaging for Trump? - Analysts also sounded a note of caution, with the International Crisis Group pointing out that the deal left "a lot of questions unanswered". The two countries went to war twice over the disputed Karabakh region, which Azerbaijan recaptured from Armenian forces in a lightning 2023 offensive, sparking the exodus of more than 100,000 ethnic Armenians. Azerbaijan and Armenia agreed on the text of a comprehensive peace deal in March. Much of the White House agreement was a "repackaging" of that, which helped both countries get on Trump's good side "by giving him a role," the Crisis Group's senior South Caucasus analyst Joshua Kucera said. Azerbaijan later added a host of demands to that March deal, including amendments to Armenia's constitution to drop territorial claims for Karabakh, before signing the document. Pashinyan has announced plans for a constitutional referendum in 2027, but the issue remains deeply divisive among Armenians, with Kucera warning that this could yet derail the process. Kucera called the corridor "one potentially significant development" from the White House meeting, but added that missing key details could prove "serious stumbling blocks". The US-brokered deal was "definitely a testament to the fact that Russia has been losing its influence" as its Ukraine operation had "diverted its attention and resources from some other areas of its traditional interest", Olesya Vardanyan, an independent analyst on the South Caucasus, told AFP. Nevertheless, she added, even if many details were still missing and nothing was guaranteed, the deal still gave Armenians "a promise of a better life and then maybe even more peace in the region".
The Advertiser
2 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Ukraine rejects land forfeit ahead of Trump-Putin talks
Ukraine will not cede its land, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has insisted, rejecting US suggestions that a deal with Russia could involve swapping territories as Washington and Moscow prepared for talks between their leaders on ending the war. US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he would meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska on August 15, saying the parties, including Zelenskiy, were close to a deal that could resolve the three-and-a-half-year conflict. Details of the potential deal have yet to be announced, but Trump said it would involve "some swapping of territories to the betterment of both". It could require Ukraine to surrender significant parts of its territory - an outcome Kyiv and its European allies say would only encourage Russian aggression. "Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier," Zelenskiy said in a video address, adding that Ukraine's borders were fixed in the country's constitution. "No one will deviate from this." US Vice President JD Vance will meet Ukrainian and European allies in Britain on Saturday to discuss Trump's push for peace, Downing Street said, adding that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had spoken about it with Zelenskiy. "They agreed this would be a vital forum to discuss progress towards securing a just and lasting peace," the Downing Street spokesperson added. Zelenskiy has made a flurry of calls with Ukraine's allies since Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff's visit to Moscow on Wednesday, which Trump described as having achieved "great progress". "Clear steps are needed, as well as maximum coordination between us and our partners," Zelenskiy said in a post on X after his call with Starmer. "We value the determination of the United Kingdom, the United States, and all our partners to end the war." Ukraine and the European Union have pushed back on proposals that they view as ceding too much to Putin, whose troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022, citing what Moscow called threats to Russia's security from a Ukrainian pivot towards the West. Kyiv and its Western allies say the invasion is an imperial-style land grab. Moscow has previously claimed four Ukrainian regions – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – as well as the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014. Russian forces do not fully control all the territory in the four regions. Russia is demanding that Ukraine pull out its troops from the parts of all four of them that it still controls. Ukraine says its troops still have a small foothold in Russia's Kursk region, a year after its troops crossed the border to try to gain leverage in any negotiations. Russia said it had expelled Ukrainian troops from Kursk in April. Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre, described the current peace push as "the first more or less realistic attempt to stop the war". "At the same time, I remain extremely sceptical about the implementation of the agreements, even if a truce is reached for a while. And there is virtually no doubt that the new commitments could be devastating for Ukraine," she said. Fierce fighting is raging along the more than 1000-kilometre front line along eastern and southern Ukraine, where Russian forces hold around a fifth of the country's territory. Russian troops are slowly advancing in Ukraine's east, but their summer offensive has so far failed to achieve a major breakthrough, Ukrainian military analysts say. "Not a single serviceman will agree to cede territory, to pull out troops from Ukrainian territories," Olesia Petritska, 51, told Reuters as she gestured to hundreds of small Ukrainian flags in the Kyiv central square commemorating fallen soldiers. Ukraine will not cede its land, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has insisted, rejecting US suggestions that a deal with Russia could involve swapping territories as Washington and Moscow prepared for talks between their leaders on ending the war. US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he would meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska on August 15, saying the parties, including Zelenskiy, were close to a deal that could resolve the three-and-a-half-year conflict. Details of the potential deal have yet to be announced, but Trump said it would involve "some swapping of territories to the betterment of both". It could require Ukraine to surrender significant parts of its territory - an outcome Kyiv and its European allies say would only encourage Russian aggression. "Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier," Zelenskiy said in a video address, adding that Ukraine's borders were fixed in the country's constitution. "No one will deviate from this." US Vice President JD Vance will meet Ukrainian and European allies in Britain on Saturday to discuss Trump's push for peace, Downing Street said, adding that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had spoken about it with Zelenskiy. "They agreed this would be a vital forum to discuss progress towards securing a just and lasting peace," the Downing Street spokesperson added. Zelenskiy has made a flurry of calls with Ukraine's allies since Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff's visit to Moscow on Wednesday, which Trump described as having achieved "great progress". "Clear steps are needed, as well as maximum coordination between us and our partners," Zelenskiy said in a post on X after his call with Starmer. "We value the determination of the United Kingdom, the United States, and all our partners to end the war." Ukraine and the European Union have pushed back on proposals that they view as ceding too much to Putin, whose troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022, citing what Moscow called threats to Russia's security from a Ukrainian pivot towards the West. Kyiv and its Western allies say the invasion is an imperial-style land grab. Moscow has previously claimed four Ukrainian regions – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – as well as the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014. Russian forces do not fully control all the territory in the four regions. Russia is demanding that Ukraine pull out its troops from the parts of all four of them that it still controls. Ukraine says its troops still have a small foothold in Russia's Kursk region, a year after its troops crossed the border to try to gain leverage in any negotiations. Russia said it had expelled Ukrainian troops from Kursk in April. Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre, described the current peace push as "the first more or less realistic attempt to stop the war". "At the same time, I remain extremely sceptical about the implementation of the agreements, even if a truce is reached for a while. And there is virtually no doubt that the new commitments could be devastating for Ukraine," she said. Fierce fighting is raging along the more than 1000-kilometre front line along eastern and southern Ukraine, where Russian forces hold around a fifth of the country's territory. Russian troops are slowly advancing in Ukraine's east, but their summer offensive has so far failed to achieve a major breakthrough, Ukrainian military analysts say. "Not a single serviceman will agree to cede territory, to pull out troops from Ukrainian territories," Olesia Petritska, 51, told Reuters as she gestured to hundreds of small Ukrainian flags in the Kyiv central square commemorating fallen soldiers. Ukraine will not cede its land, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has insisted, rejecting US suggestions that a deal with Russia could involve swapping territories as Washington and Moscow prepared for talks between their leaders on ending the war. US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he would meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska on August 15, saying the parties, including Zelenskiy, were close to a deal that could resolve the three-and-a-half-year conflict. Details of the potential deal have yet to be announced, but Trump said it would involve "some swapping of territories to the betterment of both". It could require Ukraine to surrender significant parts of its territory - an outcome Kyiv and its European allies say would only encourage Russian aggression. "Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier," Zelenskiy said in a video address, adding that Ukraine's borders were fixed in the country's constitution. "No one will deviate from this." US Vice President JD Vance will meet Ukrainian and European allies in Britain on Saturday to discuss Trump's push for peace, Downing Street said, adding that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had spoken about it with Zelenskiy. "They agreed this would be a vital forum to discuss progress towards securing a just and lasting peace," the Downing Street spokesperson added. Zelenskiy has made a flurry of calls with Ukraine's allies since Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff's visit to Moscow on Wednesday, which Trump described as having achieved "great progress". "Clear steps are needed, as well as maximum coordination between us and our partners," Zelenskiy said in a post on X after his call with Starmer. "We value the determination of the United Kingdom, the United States, and all our partners to end the war." Ukraine and the European Union have pushed back on proposals that they view as ceding too much to Putin, whose troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022, citing what Moscow called threats to Russia's security from a Ukrainian pivot towards the West. Kyiv and its Western allies say the invasion is an imperial-style land grab. Moscow has previously claimed four Ukrainian regions – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – as well as the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014. Russian forces do not fully control all the territory in the four regions. Russia is demanding that Ukraine pull out its troops from the parts of all four of them that it still controls. Ukraine says its troops still have a small foothold in Russia's Kursk region, a year after its troops crossed the border to try to gain leverage in any negotiations. Russia said it had expelled Ukrainian troops from Kursk in April. Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre, described the current peace push as "the first more or less realistic attempt to stop the war". "At the same time, I remain extremely sceptical about the implementation of the agreements, even if a truce is reached for a while. And there is virtually no doubt that the new commitments could be devastating for Ukraine," she said. Fierce fighting is raging along the more than 1000-kilometre front line along eastern and southern Ukraine, where Russian forces hold around a fifth of the country's territory. Russian troops are slowly advancing in Ukraine's east, but their summer offensive has so far failed to achieve a major breakthrough, Ukrainian military analysts say. "Not a single serviceman will agree to cede territory, to pull out troops from Ukrainian territories," Olesia Petritska, 51, told Reuters as she gestured to hundreds of small Ukrainian flags in the Kyiv central square commemorating fallen soldiers. Ukraine will not cede its land, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has insisted, rejecting US suggestions that a deal with Russia could involve swapping territories as Washington and Moscow prepared for talks between their leaders on ending the war. US President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he would meet his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in Alaska on August 15, saying the parties, including Zelenskiy, were close to a deal that could resolve the three-and-a-half-year conflict. Details of the potential deal have yet to be announced, but Trump said it would involve "some swapping of territories to the betterment of both". It could require Ukraine to surrender significant parts of its territory - an outcome Kyiv and its European allies say would only encourage Russian aggression. "Ukrainians will not gift their land to the occupier," Zelenskiy said in a video address, adding that Ukraine's borders were fixed in the country's constitution. "No one will deviate from this." US Vice President JD Vance will meet Ukrainian and European allies in Britain on Saturday to discuss Trump's push for peace, Downing Street said, adding that British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had spoken about it with Zelenskiy. "They agreed this would be a vital forum to discuss progress towards securing a just and lasting peace," the Downing Street spokesperson added. Zelenskiy has made a flurry of calls with Ukraine's allies since Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff's visit to Moscow on Wednesday, which Trump described as having achieved "great progress". "Clear steps are needed, as well as maximum coordination between us and our partners," Zelenskiy said in a post on X after his call with Starmer. "We value the determination of the United Kingdom, the United States, and all our partners to end the war." Ukraine and the European Union have pushed back on proposals that they view as ceding too much to Putin, whose troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022, citing what Moscow called threats to Russia's security from a Ukrainian pivot towards the West. Kyiv and its Western allies say the invasion is an imperial-style land grab. Moscow has previously claimed four Ukrainian regions – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – as well as the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea, which was annexed in 2014. Russian forces do not fully control all the territory in the four regions. Russia is demanding that Ukraine pull out its troops from the parts of all four of them that it still controls. Ukraine says its troops still have a small foothold in Russia's Kursk region, a year after its troops crossed the border to try to gain leverage in any negotiations. Russia said it had expelled Ukrainian troops from Kursk in April. Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Centre, described the current peace push as "the first more or less realistic attempt to stop the war". "At the same time, I remain extremely sceptical about the implementation of the agreements, even if a truce is reached for a while. And there is virtually no doubt that the new commitments could be devastating for Ukraine," she said. Fierce fighting is raging along the more than 1000-kilometre front line along eastern and southern Ukraine, where Russian forces hold around a fifth of the country's territory. Russian troops are slowly advancing in Ukraine's east, but their summer offensive has so far failed to achieve a major breakthrough, Ukrainian military analysts say. "Not a single serviceman will agree to cede territory, to pull out troops from Ukrainian territories," Olesia Petritska, 51, told Reuters as she gestured to hundreds of small Ukrainian flags in the Kyiv central square commemorating fallen soldiers.
