Federal election 2025 LIVE updates: Fallout continues from Trump’s 10 per cent tariffs on Australian goods; worst trading day on Wall Street since 2020 as $2.4 trillion wiped

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is on the way to the former Labor seat of Fowler to visit Cabramatta Public School.

Former NSW Premier Kristina Keneally lost the seat to independent Dai Le at the last election.

Wall Street benchmarks slumped overnight, ending with the largest single-day percentage losses in years, as U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs ignited fears of an all-out trade war and a global economic recession.

A combined $2.4 trillion in stock market value was wiped from S&P 500 companies, as the benchmark suffered its largest one-day percentage decline since June 2020.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has also not had a worse one-day collapse since June 2020, while the Nasdaq Composite posted its largest percentage decline on any day since the coronavirus pandemic sent global markets into a tailspin in March 2020.

The trigger was Trump’s 10 per cent tariff on most U.S. imports and much higher levies on dozens of other countries, which threaten to unleash a global economic upheaval.

China vowed retaliation, as did the European Union, which faces a 20 per cent duty. South Korea, Mexico, India and several other trading partners said they would hold off for now as they seek concessions before the targeted tariffs take effect on April 9.

Wild swings are expected in the coming days: the CBOE Volatility index, known as Wall Street’s fear gauge, closed above 30 points for the first time since August.

Reuters

Returning to Trade Minister Don Farrell, who was questioned on ABC this morning about the tariffs levelled at Australia’s external territories, including the Heard and McDonald Islands, both of which are uninhabited and have no recorded exports, and Norfolk Island, which was hit with a 29 per cent tariff.

Farrell suggested that the tariffs on Australia’s external territories were an indication of a “rushed process” by the Trump administration, and said he would raise these issues with his American counterparts in negotiations to remove the trade penalties.

“The trade system that America has until yesterday been working on had been built-up since the Second World War. The Americans have been great beneficiaries of that system and there was a series of agreements that were in place with all countries that traded with the United States,” Farrell said.

“In the space of four weeks, the American president has upended that process. So I think it was inevitable that mistakes would be made.”

Norfolk Island residents Jesse Schiller and Rachel Evans found the tariffs more amusing than concerning, noting that there was no manufacturing industry present to be subjected to the new penalties.

They found that if anything, the newfound publicity could generate significant gains for the island’s tourism-based economy.

“It would have been a very different reaction if we actually did have an exporting industry here, but the fact that no one will be negatively affected, if anything we’re going to be getting press in general, is a good thing,” Evans said.

“I feel relieved, you just don’t know, in the current world environment, what end of the stick you’re going to be on.”

Greens leader Adam Bandt has appeared on ABC News Breakfast holding a giant toothbrush he has dubbed ‘Big Red’ to spruik the inclusion of dental in Medicare, a policy he says would be a “priority issue” in minority government negotiations with Labor.

“People are putting off going to the dentist because they can’t afford it … when we had a minority parliament last time the Greens got dental into Medicare for children … now we want to get it in for everyone.”

When asked how Australia could afford to pay for the policy, Bandt said that “one in three big corporations in this country pays no tax at all” saying that if they were taxed differently it would “more than cover” the related costs.

Bandt also spoke on the tariff issue, saying that Australia should be “detaching ourselves from Donald Trump”.

“Donald Trump is dangerous. Danger to peace, danger to democracy, danger to Australia. We’re hearing very clearly these aren’t the acts of a friend. But still Australia acts as if Donald Trump is going to ride to the rescue when it comes to defence,” said Bandt.

He said that the tariffs were an opportunity for Australia to “detach” itself from the relationship with the US and Trump and “forge new alliances” with other nations facing American tariffs.

Trade Minister Don Farrell was on ABC News Breakfast moments ago, where he confirmed he would be leading negotiations with the US with hopes to remove all tariffs imposed on Australia.

Farrell confirmed he would use Australia’s critical mineral reserves as a bargaining chip with the US, and said there was appetite among his American counterparts to negotiate revisions to the tariffs unveiled by Trump since returning to the White House in January.

“We haven’t given up and certainly the comments that we have made to the United States and the comments that have come back from them is that they are still prepared to talk with us about this issue,” Farrell said.

“We will continue to negotiate with them with a view to removing all of those tariffs.”

Both Albanese and Dutton will be campaigning in western and south-western Sydney today, with a big cash splash expected from both parties in marginal electorates.

Outer metropolitan seats are seen as a major battleground in this election, following uncertain economic times, divisive cultural debates, and the emergence of new independent candidates.

Cost-of-living factors, particularly mortgage pressure, may play a decisive role for the Coalition in marginal seats like Werriwa.

Australia’s plan to ban social media for children under 16 is the cover story for Time Magazine’s April 14 edition, which lauds Albanese as someone of “everyman charisma”.

The long cover story traverses the arguments for and against the ban, which has bipartisan support but is not scheduled to start until the end of this year at the earliest.

Julie Inman Grant, Australia’s eSafety Commissioner, told Time she still receives death threats after clashing with Elon Musk over his platform X’s commitment to user safety.

The renowned American social psychologist Jonathan Haidt sees Australia as a beachhead for global efforts to tackle the harm sites like Instagram and TikTok inflict on young people

“If the age restriction goes well in Australia, then I think it will go global very quickly,” says Haidt.

Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth has called Trump’s tariff “unwarranted” and said that there will be no “compromise on the things that are important to Australians” in ongoing negotiations.

“We won’t compromise on our PBS. We won’t compromise on our biosecurity. We won’t compromise on our news bargaining media code. These are some of the critical policies that we believe are important in Australia,” Rishworth said on Nine’s Today this morning.

Rishworth said that the government would continue to work with the Trump administration despite the differences in opinion on the tariffs: “we’ll keep pursuing every avenue we can, but we will not compromise on what’s important to Australians.”

She also poked fun at the tariffs placed on remote and uninhabited nations like Heard and McDonald Islands, saying “no one has been spared these tariffs, including the penguins and the seals.”