In political circles, Australia’s ability to strike an exemption from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs has been framed as a critical diplomatic test for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese – and a major risk to the economy more broadly.
But the chief economist of Australia’s largest bank has taken a far less alarmist position. Unveiling the lender’s mid-year outlook in Canberra on Wednesday, Commonwealth Bank chief economist Luke Yeaman stressed that Trump’s 10% tariffs on Australian exports will be “as low as anyone’s going to get”.
Defence spending and the future of the AUKUS submarines agreement have recently overtaken the tariffs as the key talking points in Albanese's long awaited first face-to-face meeting with Trump, which now looks likely to take place on the sidelines of the Quad leaders summit in India.
But it’s easy to forget how much Trump’s tariff regime dominated talk of the relationship just three months ago.
