Join our daily newsletter At The Bell to receive exclusive market insights
Australian shares will open as much as 0.6% lower today, according to early ASX 200 futures, after Trump’s tariffs D-Day – called “the big one” by the U.S. President several times in the build-up – saw Oz included in the levy frenzy.
Listen to the HotCopper podcast for in-depth discussions and insights on all the biggest headlines from throughout the week. On Spotify, Apple, and more.
There was initially some hope Week 14’s green run would continue, but Trump quickly put paid to that with 10% baseline tariffs on all countries, including Oz.
The tariff-happy President specifically pointed to Australia’s beef industry as the reason.
Other countries fared even worse: China has now had 34% tariffs imposed while Japan is facing 24%, and South Korea will sit at 25%. This rolls down into Australia too – all three are some of our biggest partnered export destinations.
Elsewhere, the EU was teed up for blanket 20% levies. The STOXX 600 dipped 0.5%, while Wall Street surged from +0.5% (the S&P 500) to +0.8% (the Nasdaq composite).
Perhaps most interesting, as mentioned, is that Trump actually singled out Australian beef during his speech, declaring U.S. farmers had been “brutalised.”
Particularly stinging, he claimed, was that the U.S. had been importing as much as US$3 billion (about A$4.7 million) beef from Australia each year, but that we “won’t take any of theirs.” He also suggested Australia had “banned” American beef.
To check the bill, we import $88B worth of U.S. goods; the U.S. buys $3.3B back.
More market news
Never-ending: And just like that, Trump’s tariffs are back causing more market chaos
Meet GeoGeorge: The HotCopper poster so accurate he got hired as an analyst
After these Trump tariffs, the Aussie dollar is buying 62.8 US cents.
Commodities haven’t been largely impacted, with,
Iron Ore up just slightly and today selling at $103 a tonne in Singapore,
Brent Crude trading at $73.78,
Gold up again at $3,173 per ounce as traders chase safety, and,
US natgas futures did jump a little, up 1.5% to around $4.01 per gigajoule.
Join the discussion: See what’s trending right now on Australia’s largest stock forum and be part of the conversations that move the markets.
The material provided in this article is for information only and should not be treated as investment advice. Viewers are encouraged to conduct their own research and consult with a certified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. For full disclaimer information, please click here.
