World's largest copper producer says Trump's tariffs are causing ‘anxiety'
President Donald Trump this month said he would impose a 50 per cent tariff on copper from August 1 but did not clarify if this would apply to the refined metal, semi-finished products or copper ore. Miners and industrial users have questions over the timing and nature of the tariffs.
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News.com.au
10 hours ago
- News.com.au
Defence, Foreign Ministers sign new 50-year UK-Australia ‘Geelong Treaty' military pact
Defence and Foreign Ministers from the United Kingdom and Australia have signed a new 50-year military pact designed to underpin Australia's acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines. The deal was signed in Geelong on Saturday, the hometown of Australia's Defence Minister, and dubbed 'The Geelong Treaty'. Officials from Australia and the UK have been forced to voice renewed enthusiasm for the AUKUS agreement, amid a US review of the deal. America's defence and foreign minister-equivalents have not been part of AUKUS meetings in Australia this week. Donald Trump and UK Prime Minster Keir Starmer and expected to meet in Scotland this week. At Geelong on Saturday, Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said the new pact meant jobs and military security. 'It's a treaty which will last for 50 years,' Mr Marles said during a signing ceremony with his UK counterpart. 'It is a bilateral treaty which sits under the trilateral AUKUS framework, itself embodied in a trilateral treaty that was signed that I signed in Washington, DC., in August of last year. 'In doing this, AUKUS will see 20,000 jobs in Australia. It will see, in building submarines in this country, the biggest industrial endeavour in our nation's history, bigger even than the Snowy Hydro scheme,' Mr Marles said. 'In military terms, what it will deliver is the biggest leap in Australia's military capability, really, since the formation of the navy back in 1913.' Alongside Mr Marles, UK Secretary of State for Defence John Healey dubbed the Geelong Treaty a powerful agreement. 'It is a treaty that will support tens of thousands of jobs in both Australia and the UK,' Mr Healey said. 'It is a treaty to build the most advanced, most powerful attack submarines either of our nations have ever had. It is a treaty that will fortify the Indo-Pacific. 'It will strengthen NATO and we're the politicians signing it today; But this is a treaty that will define the relationship between our two nations and safeguard the security of our country for our children and our children's children to come. 'So this is a historic day.' The two ministers have been joined in a series of meetings by Foreign Minster Penny Wong and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy this week. The treaty signing also comes as the largest British flotilla in 30 years arrives in Darwin, with the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier docking in Darwin on Wednesday. It was the first time a British aircraft carrier visited Australia since 1997, and brought troops to take part in the massive Talisman Sabre exercises, which run annually across northern Queensland and PNG.
ABC News
13 hours ago
- ABC News
Jerome Powell fact-checking Trump has gone viral. What's the backstory of their feud?
It's been likened to a scene in comedy series The Office — US President Donald Trump being fact-checked by a disgruntled man in a suit and a hard hat. But there's more to awkward exchange than a new meme format. Here's the backstory of the video and why the pair's disagreement speaks to a serious issue in the US. That's Jerome Powell, the chair of the US Federal Reserve. The US Federal Reserve — which is often called "the Fed" for short — is the American equivalent to the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA). It's America's central bank, an institution tasked with regulating the finance sector, keeping the US economy in check and tackling inflation. And part of that role is setting the target range for what's called the federal funds rate — a figure that influences the interest rates US banks charge customers. The key thing about the Fed is that it's a separate entity from the US government, so it's not subject to the whims of whatever party is in power. Mr Trump and Mr Powell are touring the Federal Reserve Board building, which is currently undergoing renovations, in Washington DC. This tour came after Mr Trump's administration criticised the renovation project as "ostentatious". The long-running renovation project was originally costed at $US1.9 billion ($2.9 billion), but the Fed says that went to $US2.5 billion. During the tour, Mr Trump said the project's cost "went up a little or a lot" and was costing "about $US3.1 billion". But Mr Powell shook his head, saying he had not heard those figures from the Fed. Mr Trump then handed Mr Powell a piece of paper. "Are you including the Martin renovation?" Mr Powell said. "You just added in a third building, is what that is. That's a third building." "It's a building that's being built," Mr Trump said. "No, it was built five years ago," Mr Powell said. The awkward moment happened before a pack of reporters, so footage of the exchange quickly spread. Reposts of the video clocked up hundreds of thousands of views on X. Meanwhile, a frame of Mr Powell examining the figures became a meme format: And the virality of the moment was not helped by this interaction between the two: Mr Trump wants Mr Powell to lower the federal funds rate so that interest rates will go down in the US. In an Australian context, that would be equivalent to the prime minister asking the governor of the RBA to lower interest rates. Since April, Mr Powell has warned that Trump's policies, particularly on tariffs, could undermine the economy. He said the tariff levels were "significantly larger than anticipated" and that they could result in both lower growth and higher inflation. This would make it difficult for the Fed to react and prohibit a rate cut. In response, Mr Trump launched a tirade and called the chair a "major loser". During the heated exchange this week, Mr Trump pressed him again on lowering interest rates, telling him to "do the right thing" and slash them by 3 percentage points or more. Donald Trump has repeatedly suggested that he would "fire" Mr Powell. The Federal Reserve Act of 1913, which created the central bank, says that members of the Board of Governors, including the Fed chief, can be "removed for cause by the president". But the law does not define "cause" or lay out any standard or procedures for removal. No president has ever removed a Fed board member, and the law has never been tested in court. Several federal laws shielding members of other agencies from being removed by the president without cause say that "cause" can include neglect of duty, malfeasance, and inefficiency. If Mr Powell is fired and sues, those laws could be a guide for courts to determine if Mr Trump had cause to remove him. Last week, Mr Trump said Mr Powell had kept rates too high and would be out in eight months. "I think he's done a bad job, but he's going to be out pretty soon," he said. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday said the entire Federal Reserve needed to be examined as an institution and whether it had been successful. Mr Bessent, speaking with US media, declined to comment on a report that he had advised President Donald Trump not to fire Fed chair Jerome Powell. He said it would be the president's decision. But he said the institution should be reviewed, citing what he called the Fed's "fear-mongering over tariffs". He said that there had been little, if any, inflationary effect so far. Following his visit, the president walked back his comments and said that he would like the chair to resign but it would disrupt the markets if he were to remove him.
Sky News AU
18 hours ago
- Sky News AU
Donald Trump arrives in Scotland amid anti-Trump protestors in Edinburgh
Sky News contributor Sophie Elsworth discusses US President Donald Trump arriving in Scotland to talk trade and tour his golf properties. 'He spoke briefly on the tarmac at Prestwick Airport and basically said that Britain and Europe has to stop this horrible invasion with the legal migrants,' Ms Elsworth told Sky News Australia. 'He's got four days ahead of him with several meetings here in Scotland. 'There's also protests scheduled by anti-Trump protestors here across Scotland.'
