Read all the headlines from day seven of the 2025 federal election campaign on Thursday, April 3.
Read all the headlines from day seven of the 2025 federal election campaign on Thursday, April 3.
It’s been a busy morning for both the election campaign and international trade. Here’s what we know so far about the tariffs that are expected to come into effect within hours:
- US President Donald Trump has announced a sweeping regime of tariffs on imports to the country from around the world.
- Trump dubbed it “Liberation Day”, and falsely claimed the tariffs would address “horrendous imbalances” in trade deals.
- Australia has copped a 10 per cent tariff on all exports to the US, the same as the UK and New Zealand, but less than China at 34 per cent, the EU at 20 per cent and India at 20 per cent.
- The ASX was 1.9 per cent lower at 7785.2 in early trade, wiping $48 billion off the value of the bourse.
- Trump singled out Australia for its ban on imports of uncooked US beef: “They’re wonderful people, wonderful everything — but they ban American beef.”
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed Australia will not weaken biosecurity laws to allow uncooked US beef into the country.
- Australian beef imports into the US are not banned, but subject to the same tariffs as other goods.
- Norfolk Island – a tiny Australian external territory which exports leather shoes to the US – has been hit with a 29 per cent tariff.
- Business groups warn the economy could take a hit from global trade disruption and dumping of cheap goods into Australia from other countries seeking to sell them outside the US.
Winemaker Treasury Wine Estates said the blanket 10 per cent tariff imposed on Australian products was unlikely to have a big impact on its business.
Treasury’s American division provides about 36 per cent of the group’s earnings but, importantly, about 85 per cent of the wine it sells in the US is produced there.
Most of those wines are sold under its luxury labels, DAOU, Frank Family Vineyards, Stags’ Leap, Beringer and Beaulieu Vineyards.
The remaining 15 per cent of US sales is bulk imported and bottled and sold under the 19 Crimes and Matua labels.
“Treasury does not anticipate these measures to have a material impact on its business,” the company said in an ASX statement.
Shares in the winemaker nevertheless fell on opening by about 1.6 per cent.
A range of Australian companies have suffered a sharemarket hit.
Melbourne-based luxury fashion online retailer Cettire, for instance, reported to the ASX that it was “continuing to assess changes” due the tariffs. About 41 per cent of the company’s sales, which include brands like Prada, Gucci and Valentino, are goods made in the EU and sold to American-based customers.
Earlier, we reported that one of the sharemarkets biggest companies, Cochlear, noted it was also trying to determine the impact of the tariffs.
Cochlear is 3.3 per cent down in early trading while Cettire is down by 5.7 per cent.
The prime minister says no country has received a better outcome in today’s US tariff blitz than Australia.
“Australia has been presenting our case to the United States very strongly across the board,” he said.
“We will continue to put our case for what we regard as a reciprocal arrangement for our products to be tariff-free, just as products into Australia from the United States are tariff-free. And importantly, the United States does enjoy a historical trade surplus with Australia.”
A small chuckle escaped Albanese as he explained why Norfolk Island had a 29 per cent tariff.
“I’m not quite sure that Norfolk Island, with respect to it, is a trade competitor with the giant economy of the United States but that just shows and exemplifies the fact that nowhere on earth is exempt from this,” Albanese said.
The prime minister then flagged that Trump had been determined to put in place tariffs from the beginning of his presidency.
“We will continue to argue Australia’s case,” Albanese said.
The Australian sharemarket has opened almost 2 per cent lower as investors react to Trump’s tariffs. The hit now takes the fall in the ASX200 since Trump’s inauguration in January to 9 per cent.
The ASX was 1.9 per cent lower at 7785.2 in early trade, wiping $48 billion off its value.
Trump announced the tariffs after the US market’s closing bell, with Wall Street futures initially rising before plunging after he went into detail on what tariffs would be imposed.
Rates for China would be set at 34 per cent, while the European Union and Japan would face 20 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively. Australia faces a minimum 10 per cent tariffs on its products.
S&P 500 futures reversed gains and fell to a 3.3 per cent loss, suggesting investors expect deep losses when Wall Street opens on Thursday. Nasdaq futures, reflecting tech companies such as Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft, were down 4.2 per cent after gaining earlier.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is in Melbourne’s Pascoe Vale, where he visited a pharmacy to spruik Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
“It is important to emphasise that my government will not negotiate or compromise on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. This is a part of Australian values, just like Medicare, and that is why we have made it very clear that this is not up for grabs,” he said.
Albanese announced that medicines helping treat the most common cancer in the central nervous system in children would be added to the PBS, alongside a medicine for bone marrow cancer.
“Today I announce additional medicines that will be added to the scheme in April,” he said.
It’s been a busy morning for both the election campaign and international trade. Here’s what we know so far about the tariffs that are expected to come into effect within hours:
- US President Donald Trump has announced a sweeping regime of tariffs on imports to the country from around the world.
- Trump dubbed it “Liberation Day”, and falsely claimed the tariffs would address “horrendous imbalances” in trade deals.
- Australia has copped a 10 per cent tariff on all exports to the US, the same as the UK and New Zealand, but less than China at 34 per cent, the EU at 20 per cent and India at 20 per cent.
- The ASX was 1.9 per cent lower at 7785.2 in early trade, wiping $48 billion off the value of the bourse.
- Trump singled out Australia for its ban on imports of uncooked US beef: “They’re wonderful people, wonderful everything — but they ban American beef.”
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has confirmed Australia will not weaken biosecurity laws to allow uncooked US beef into the country.
- Australian beef imports into the US are not banned, but subject to the same tariffs as other goods.
- Norfolk Island – a tiny Australian external territory which exports leather shoes to the US – has been hit with a 29 per cent tariff.
- Business groups warn the economy could take a hit from global trade disruption and dumping of cheap goods into Australia from other countries seeking to sell them outside the US.
Australian hearing implants maker Cochlear says it’s waiting on more information from the US government on how the baseline 10 per cent tariff imposed by US President Donald Trump on Australia will hurt its business.
ASX-listed Cochlear, valued at $17.5 billion, told the market on Thursday that it needed to work through the various “complexities” to fully understand the new tariff regime.
“Cochlear has long been importing its products under a chapter of the Harmonised Tariff Schedule of the United States that provides for duty-free importation on a range of products into the US, including hearing implants,” the company said.
“We are expecting further detail in the US Customs and Border Protection Notice of Implementation, which is expected to be published in the next week.”
Cochlear said it would update investors once it had more clarity on the impact of the tariff on its business.
Greens leader Adam Bandt has joined independent senator Jacqui Lambie in calling for Australia to cancel AUKUS.
“Today should be Australia’s liberation day – when we finally liberate ourselves from being shackled too closely to Trump,” Bandt said in a post on X, in reply to an earlier post where he said “End AUKUS.”
“Trump is dangerous. It’s time for Labor and Liberal to act.”
Companies are now coming out saying the tariffs Trump announced this morning will raise prices on a wide range of goods for American consumers, including toys.
Jay Foreman, whose company Basic Fun is behind classic toys including Tonka trucks and Care Bears, says he has been working hard to come up with new ways to cut tariff-related costs, such as reducing packaging and eliminating batteries with the products.
But Trump’s announcement that he plans a 34 per cent increase in tariffs on Chinese imports has solidified his decision to hike prices. Most of the company’s toys are made in China. He said the Tonka Mighty Dump Truck will go from US$29.99 ($48) to $39.99 ($64) this holiday season, possibly even $45.
“There is no other way,” he said.
AP