US tariffs stay updates: Glaring downside with Trump’s tariffs on Australia sends web wild – as critics reveal astonishing element in his official chart

Trump has slapped a 10 per cent tariff on the Heard and McDonald Islands.

Never heard of them?

That’s because they’re an uninhabited (apart from penguins, birds and seals) Australian territory that sit around 6,000km from the Australian mainland, two-thirds of the way from Madagascar to Antarctica in the Indian Ocean.

The islands, which contain two active volcanoes, would take two weeks to travel to via boat from WA.

It is unclear exactly what the lonely, icey outcrop (pictured below) exports to the US.

But critics of Donald Trump ‘s unprecedented tariff announcement have ridiculed the White House for including the islands.

‘The penguins have been ripping us off for years,’ wrote Trump’s former communications director Anthony Scaramucci, now a frequent critic of the president.

‘For far too long, the penguins on the uninhabited Heard and McDonald Islands in the Antarctic have ripped off American taxpayers,’ wrote the Washington Post National Security editor.

‘That ends today.’

‘The Heard Island and McDonald penguins have been taking advantage of us for too long – it’s about time we stood up to them!’ wrote former Congressman Tom Malinowski on X.

Read more of the quips here:

In his rambling address in the White House Rose Garden, Trump claimed Australian beef imports to the US would be banned from midnight.

‘Australia bans — and they’re wonderful people, and they have wonderful everything — but they ban American beef,’ Trump said.

‘Yet we imported (US)$3billion of Australian beef from them just last year alone.

‘They won’t take any of our beef. They don’t want it because they don’t want it to affect their farmers and, you know, I don’t blame them.

‘But we’re doing the same thing right now starting at midnight tonight, I would say.’

But Daily Mail Australia can confirm that the Albanese government has since had assurances from the US Treasury that no ban will come into force.

Australian beef will be subject to the same 10 per cent tariff as other Australian goods.

The Prime Minister has slammed Trump’s tariffs, branding them ‘totally unwarranted’.

‘For Australia, these tariffs are not unexpected, but let me be clear – they are totally unwarranted,’ Mr Albanese told reporters on Thursday morning.

‘President Trump referred to reciprocal tariffs. A reciprocal tariff would be zero, not 10 per cent.

‘The administration’s tariffs have no basis in logic and they go against the bases of our two nation’s partnership.

‘This is not the act of a friend.’

Mr Albanese said that tariffs would ‘push up costs for American households’.

‘It is the American people who will pay the biggest price for these unjustified tariffs,’ he said.

‘This is why our government will not be seeking to impose reciprocal tariffs. We will not join a race to the bottom that leads to higher prices and slower growth. We will stand up for Australia.’

Mr Albanese said that he would ‘continue to make the strongest case for these unjustified tariffs to be removed from our exporters’.

The Australian Electoral Commission has found Abbie Chatfield did not breach electoral laws in social media posts involing Anthony Albanese and Greens leader Adam Bandt (pictured with Ms Chatfield below).

Both leaders appeared on the influencer’s podcast, It’s A Lot, in recent weeks.

Mr Albanese shared three clips from his appearnace, while Mr Bandt, who Ms Chatfield also performed a DJ set with, shared four.

Any political content is legally required to carry an authorisation note.

But an AEC spokesperson said the commission’s review had concluded that ‘based on the facts as we currently understand them, the AEC found that this communication does not require an authorisation statement’.

Mexico, Canada, and Russia were left off of the long list of tariff proposals that the president displayed at the White House.

Read belwo to find out why:

The Opposition Leader hinted that the government could leverage the defence relationship to exert pressure on the White House to secure a carve-out from the tariffs.

‘There is a critical relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom in terms of our defence compact,’ Mr Dutton said.

‘We have (US) troops in the north of our country. We have the AUKUS deal. We have ANZUS treaty. It is a long and abiding relationship and the core of an arrangement between us and the United States in resolving this matter will centre around the defence relationship.’

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has accused Trump of not treating Australia with ‘respect’.

‘I think this is a bad day for our country and it’s not the treatment that Australians deserve, because we have a very trusted, long-standing and abiding relationship with the United States,’ he told reporters in WA.

He added: ‘We have a special relationship with the United States and it hasn’t been treated with respect by the Administration or by the President.’

Mr Dutton said that he had spoken to three major Aussie beef producers on Thursday morning.

He added that the 10 per cent tariff on Aussie beef would actually harm US consumers, who rely on beef imports.

The Coalition leader savaged the work done by Anthony Albanese and Trade Minister Don Farrell to try to secure a carve-out for Australia.

‘Don Farrell has not achieved anything. That is obvious,’ he said.

‘Neither has Anthony Albanese. This is the problem for the country.’

Financial markets are now widely expecting a May interest rate cut as a result of Donald Trump’s broad-based tariffs.

Read more below:

Peter Dutton has repeated his attacks on Anthony Albanese, claiming the Prime Minister has failed to secure a third phone call with Trump.

‘What we need to be able to do is to sit down with the administration and negotiate hard on our country’s behalf,’ the Opposition Leader told 2GB.

‘And I think part of the problem is that the Prime Minister hasn’t been able to get a phone call or a meeting with the President.

‘And there’s been no significant negotiation leader to leader. So that has been the significant failing.’

Mr Dutton accused the PM of ‘flailing’ in his response.

While no country has scored a carve-out from US tariffs, Mr Dutton has continued to claim he would be best placed to deal with Trump.

When asked whether global leaders could secure exemptions, White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt insisted that Trump was ‘always up’ for a phone call or ‘good negotiation’.

‘But he is very much focused on fixing the wrongs of the past and showing that American workers have a fair share,’ she told reporters on Tuesday.

The Prime Minister outlined a series of interventions designed to soften the blow of Trump’s punitive tariffs for Australian trade.

‘First, we will strengthen our anti-dumping regime to safeguard key sectors like steel, aluminium and manufacturing against unfair competition,’ Mr Albanese told reporters.

‘Second, we will provide $50million to affected sectors particularly through peak bodies such as the National Farmers Federation to secure and grow new markets for their world-class products.

‘This work will be backed by five new business and investment missions to priority markets within the first 100 days of our second term.

‘Third, we will establish a new Economic Resilience Program through our National Reconstruction Fund. This will provide $1billion in zero interest loans for firms to capitalise on new export opportunities.

‘Fourth, just as we are already encouraging more people to buy Australian, our Labor government will buy Australian, too.’

All nations now face a new 10 percent tariff ‘floor.’

Other countries which include allies like Japan, South Korea, and Great Britain, plus top competitor China, face individualised tariffs based on their own national policies as calculated by the Trump administration.

Read who will be worst-affected below:

Donald Trump’s new 10 per cent ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs on all Australian exports to the US could end up costing local consumers more.

Read all about how it could affect your weekly shop here:

The Prime Minister was quizzed about his confidence in Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd.

Mr Rudd’s position in Washington has been in doubt ever since Trump called him as ‘nasty’ and ‘not the brightest bulb’ following some of the comments the former Prime Minister made about the US President.

Mr Rudd had called him, among other things, a ‘village idiot’, a ‘traitor to the West’ and ‘the most destructive president in history’.

But Mr Albanese defended his former leader, insisting he speaks to him ‘on a daily basis’.

‘No one can question Kevin Rudd’s work ethic,’ the PM said.

‘Kevin Rudd works relentlessly in Australia’s national interest and he’s developed very positive relationships with key people in the Trump administration.’

You can read more on Trump and Mr Rudd’s beef below:

Greg Norman has emerged as a key figure in the Prime Minister’s hopes for a possible carve-out from Trump’s punitive tariffs.

Mr Albanese dined with the golfer in Melbourne on Wednesday night. Norman is friends with Trump and helped former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull secure a carve-out during his first Presidency.

Mr Albanese described Norman as a ‘great Australian’ on Thursday morning.

‘He is someone who of course lives largely in Florida, he’s someone with connections with the US administration. And we are engaging with Australians who have connections with the United States to advance our national interest.’

The Prime Minister said his government was trying every avenue to secure a better deal for Australia.

‘We are using every asset at our disposal. Ministers, people in departments, our embassy in Washington DC, our business community links, and our other links as well, to advance Australia’s national interest,’ he added.

US stocks plunged in after-hours trading after Trump announced broad tariffs starting at 10 percent — with much higher rates for certain countries.

Read more here:

Amid Trump’s sweeping global tariffs, one tiny Australian territory has been singled out.

Norfolk Island, located 1500km east of Australia in the Pacific Ocean, has been slapped with a 29 per cent reciprocal tariff by the US administration.

The decision bemused Anthony Albanese.

‘I’m not sure what Norfolk Island’s major exports are to the US or why it has been singled out, but it has,’ he said.

‘On the table that is there. It’s across the board.

‘It’s quite clear the Trump administration was determined to do this.’

Australia is subject to a 10 per cent reciprocal tariff – the new ‘minimum’ baseline rate he has applied to all countries.

That means Australia has got off comparatively lightly, compared to countries like Cambodia which has been slugged with a 49 per cent tariff.

But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has hit back, saying: ‘A reciprocal tariff would be zero, not 10 per cent.’

Trump also singled out Australian beef exports, which he claimed will be banned from midnight US time.

‘Australia bans — and they’re wonderful people, and they have wonderful everything — but they ban American beef,’ Trump said.

‘Yet we imported (US)$3billion of Australian beef from them just last year alone.

‘They won’t take any of our beef. They don’t want it because they don’t want it to affect their farmers and, you know, I don’t blame them.

‘But we’re doing the same thing right now starting at midnight tonight, I would say.’

But government sources later confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that there will be no beef ban – just the 10 per cent flat rate tariff on beef exports.

The Prime Minister insisted that Australia’s tough biosecurity laws and its Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) was ‘not up for negotiation’.

‘The investments we’re making in the PBS mean that life-saving and life-changing medicines which would otherwise cost people thousands of dollars will be no more than $25 a script,’ he said.

‘Under Labor, that will never be up for negotiation. We don’t want our health system to be more American, we only want it to be more Australian. ‘

Mr Albanese said the same applied to Australia’s biosecurity laws.

Trump earlier complained that Australia ‘won’t take any of our beef’.

‘They don’t want it because they don’t want it to affect their farmers and you know, I don’t blame them but we’re doing the same thing right now starting at midnight tonight, I would say,’ the US President added.

But Mr Albanese said he had made it very clear to the US administration that ‘we will not compromise on biosecurity’.

‘We will not weaken the measures that protect our farmers and producers from the risks of disease or contamination,’ he added.

‘Indeed we have made it a priority to strengthen biosecurity because one of the things that makes Australian food and fibre the best in the world is that people everywhere know that it stands for quality, but also stands for safety.’

Australia will not escape the global tariffs announced by Trump on Thursday morning.

A table of reciprocal tariffs was released following the announcement showing Vietnam and Cambodia would be among the worst hit countries.

Australia will cop a tariff of at least 10 per cent on all its goods exported to the US.

The Australia-US free trade agreement, which was signed two decades ago, previously prevented tariffs being applied to goods sent overseas.

Donald Trump took aim at Australia’s ban on fresh beef imports in his Liberation Day address.

‘Australia bans — and they’re wonderful people, and wonderful everything — but they ban American beef,’ he said.

‘Yet we imported $US3 billion of Australian beef from them just last year alone.

‘They won’t take any of our beef.

‘They don’t want it because they don’t want it to affect their farmers and you know, I don’t blame them but we’re doing the same thing right now starting at midnight tonight, I would say.’

Donald Trump will reveal the new tariffs on Thursday morning in what is known as Liberation Day.

A White House spokesman has warned the tariffs will take effect immediately.

The tariffs are expected to cover all countries and match the tariffs other nations have enforced on US imports.

Trump will make the announcement at 4pm on Wednesday (US eastern time) – which will be 7am on Thursday for Australia.

Finance guru Mark Bouris has issued a stark warning that a US recession would have a butterfly effect on Australia’s economy.

The warning comes as economists hold their breath in anticipation of Donald Trump‘s new tariffs on Australian agricultural and pharmaceutical exports.

The businessman said that the impact could be ‘messy’, not only for the US but for global trading partners like Australia.

Australian consumers could end up paying more than $50 a kilo for steak at the supermarket as a result of Donald Trump‘s tariffs on agriculture exports, farmers say.

A kilogram of rump steak at Woolworths is now selling for $28.

But the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance, representing 350 small-scale farmers, fears rump steak will end of costing Australian consumers $56 at the supermarket.

Anthony Albanese was spotted dining with golfing legend Greg Norman ahead of Donald Trump announcing his new global tariffs.

Norman is a close friend of Trump and Mr Albanese is understood to have sought out the meeting.

Mr Albanese shared a selfie of the pair to his Instagram account on Wednesday night.

‘Great to catch up with Greg Norman tonight in Melbourne,’ the caption read.

Many social media users were left unimpressed.

‘Greg! You’re better than that,’ one wrote.

Another added: ‘Yeah, nah. He supports Trump.’