Australia news live: sand dune warning in wake of cyclone; Labor edges ahead of Coalition in new poll
Key events
Australia will reportedly not get an exemption to US steel and aluminium tariffs, with Donald Trump said to have decided against giving a a carve-out that he dangled in front of Anthony Albanese.
But the federal government says it remains in discussion with the Trump administration, and will have “more to say” on the matter soon.
Multiple Australian media outlets reported early on Wednesday (AEDT) that White House press secretary Katherine Leavitt had told them in a private briefing in Washington DC that Canberra would not receive an exemption to the 25% steel and aluminium tariffs due to come into force today.
The ABC reported that Leavitt had said Trump “considered it, and considered against it”, for the purpose of backing American-made products over overseas ones.
Trump had previously told Albanese that a carve-out for Australian products would be considered; the president himself said there would be “great consideration” given to such a move.
An Albanese government spokesperson told Guardian Australia on Wednesday morning that they had “been working hard at all levels to secure an exemption.”
“We remain in discussion with the United States Administration, and will have more to say,” the statement said.
The Coalition opposition had said it would be a test of Albanese’s leadership if Australia failed to receive an exemption, as Malcolm Turnbull’s government had in 2017. Shadow trade minister Kevin Hogan said on Wednesday that Albanese had “failed” steel and aluminium workers, claiming “the Prime Minister lacked the courage to travel to Washington” to discuss the matter directly with Trump.
But Turnbull himself this week rejected the claims from his former party, saying this week “there has been an attempt to set Albanese up to fail on something that he was most unlikely to succeed in.”
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with some of the top overnight stories before Rafqa Touma takes the helm.
Time is running out for Australia to escape US metals tariffs ahead of the deadline later today with a run on gold exports creating a trade surplus with the US and posssibly providing Donald Trump with another reason to place levies on Australian steel and aluminium. The US president’s spat with Malcolm Turnbull may not have helped Australia’s case and attitudes are hardening across the board, as demonstrated by Trump’s decision overnight to double tariffs on Canadian metal imports to the US. All of which has caused further losses on stock markets during the European and US trading day. The ASX is tipped to fall more than 2% at the opening this morning. We’ll have more as it unfolds.
Clive Palmer’s new party, the Trumpet of Patriots, is already outspending the major parties as the shadow election campaign gathers pace. The mining mogul has created controversy with newspaper campaigns and has invested in Google ads at a higher rate than even the Western Australian Liberal and Labor parties ahead of the state election last week.
Staying with politics, a poll out today shows that Labor has edged ahead of the Coalition. The Roy Morgan poll puts Labor on 51.5% to the Coalition’s 48.5% on a two-party-preferred basis, widening a lead that first emerged at the end of February in the polling series. And a report from CoreLogic today says house prices are rising again in some areas. More coming up.
And there has been severe erosion on eastern Australian beaches pounded by Tropical Cyclone Alfred – now authorities are warning about the dangers that poses to visitors. More on that very soon.
