The United States and China have agreed a deal to slash reciprocal tariffs for now as the world’s two biggest economies seek to end a trade war that has disrupted the global outlook and set financial markets on edge.

Speaking after talks with Chinese officials in Geneva, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters on Monday the two sides had agreed on a 90-day pause on measures and that tariffs would come down by more than 100 percentage points to 10 per cent.

“Both countries represented their national interest very well,” Bessent said. 

“We both have an interest in balanced trade, the US will continue moving towards that.”

Bessent was speaking alongside US trade representative Jamieson Greer after the weekend talks in which both sides had hailed progress on narrowing differences.

The Geneva meetings were the first face-to-face interactions between senior US and Chinese economic officials since President Donald Trump returned to power and launched a global tariff blitz, imposing particularly hefty duties on China.

Since taking office in January, Trump has hiked the tariffs paid by US importers for goods from China to 145 per cent, as well as those he imposed on many Chinese goods during his first term and the duties levied by the Biden administration.

China hit back by putting export curbs on some rare earth elements, vital for US manufacturers of weapons and electronic consumer goods, and raising tariffs on US goods to 125 per cent.

The tariff dispute brought nearly $US600 billion ($A933 billion) in two-way trade to a standstill, disrupting supply chains, sparking fears of stagflation and triggering some lay-offs.

Financial markets have been looking out for signs of a thaw in the trade war and Wall Street stock futures climbed and the dollar firmed against safe haven peers on Monday as the talks boosted hopes a global recession might be avoided.

Nationals leader David Littleproud has retained his position after fending off a challenge over climate change.

The Nationals’ 20-member party room on Monday re-elected Mr Littleproud and backed Kevin Hogan as deputy leader.

Queensland senator Matt Canavan had challenged Mr Littleproud for the leadership despite the rural party holding most of its seats at the election.

Positioning himself as “an agent of change”, Senator Canavan had urged the coalition to dump its “ridiculous” net-zero emissions by 2050 target.

“It’s a great honour to lead our great party,” Mr Littleproud said after being re-elected.

“I’m proud of our achievements over the last three years … where I think we set the policy agenda.”

The Nationals’ leadership positions are spilled after every federal election.

A fresh deputy was needed after the party’s former second-in-command Perin Davey lost her seat on May 3.

Senator Davey was still able to vote as she remains a senator – and part of the partyroom – until July 1.

Bridget McKenzie will lead the minor party in the Senate.

Nationals MP and former leader Michael McCormack earlier backed Mr Littleproud, but said the open contest would help clear the air.

Fellow MP Darren Chester also backed Mr Littleproud, saying a case for change hadn’t been made.

“David has done a good job to move us closer to the sensible centre of Australian politics, which is where most of the voters are,” he said.

MPs Colin Boyce and Llew O’Brien backed Senator Canavan ahead of the vote, with both staunchly opposed to climate targets.

The Nationals had one less person in their partyroom meeting after Northern Territory senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price moved to the Liberal party room.

The Liberals will choose a party leader on Tuesday.

Anthony Albanese has dumped Tanya Plibersek from her environment portfolio as part of a shake-up of his ministry.

The prime minister played down internal divisions following Labor’s landslide election victory as he promoted close ally Tim Ayres to cabinet and elevated Anne Aly from the outer ministry.

Ms Plibersek, who has a frosty relationship with Mr Albanese despite being one of Labor’s most senior women, has been shifted to social services.

The writing had been on the wall after Mr Albanese went over the top of Ms Plibersek to dump environmental laws after lobbying from West Australian stakeholders.

Michelle Rowland becomes the attorney-general after Mark Dreyfus was knifed by his right faction in a power play by Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles.

Murray Watt takes over as environment minister, with Amanda Rishworth assuming the employment and workplace relations portfolio.

“Murray is an outstanding performer as a minister. I regard the environment as a really central portfolio,” Mr Albanese said.

He retained his frontline team of Defence Minister Mr Marles, Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong and Trade Minister Don Farrell.

Other ministers keeping their portfolios include Malarndirri McCarthy (Indigenous Australians), Tony Burke (home affairs), Mark Butler (health), Chris Bowen (energy), Jason Clare (education) and Clare O’Neil (housing).

Madeleine King kept resources, Catherine King infrastructure, Pat Conroy defence industry and Pacific affairs and Julie Collins agriculture.

Anika Wells takes on the communications portfolio alongside sport, meaning she will take carriage of the contentious gambling advertising restriction policy Labor shelved before the election. 

Dr Aly’s promotion reflects a greater focus on WA after the state helped deliver Labor government for the second consecutive federal election.

She is the sole Muslim MP in the senior leadership team after Ed Husic also fell victim to internal warfare, branding Mr Marles a “factional assassin” on the way out.

Senator Ayres took Mr Husic’s science and industry portfolios, while Jess Walsh (early childhood education), Daniel Mulino (assistant treasurer) and Sam Rae (aged care and seniors) also entered the 30-person ministry.

The ministry will be sworn in at Government House on Tuesday.

The refreshed leadership team will sink its teeth into Labor’s second-term policy agenda with parliament set to resume in July.

Legislation cutting student debt by 20 per cent shapes as the first cab off the rank.

Mr Husic’s demotion has been criticised by Muslim community groups and Labor luminary and former prime minister Paul Keating.

Mr Albanese defended not intervening, saying Labor’s caucus processes were not new.

Ministry appointments are based on faction and state proportions.

“That is the system that is there,” Mr Albanese said.

“It’s one that Ed and others have supported for a long period of time.”

A uranium miner looks set to drop its Federal Court challenge to a government decision not to renew the controversial Jabiluka mineral lease. 

A hearing of the case was vacated on Monday after the court was told Energy Resources of Australia was the subject of a compulsory share acquisition, making it wholly owned by Rio Tinto.

The mining giant has previously indicated it was not interested in mining at the site, one of the world’s largest and richest uranium deposits.

The site was under lease to ERA which also operated the adjacent defunct Ranger uranium mine next to Kakadu National Park, near Jabiru, 300km east of Darwin.

In July 2024, the Northern Territory’s then Labor mining minister Mark Monaghan refused to extend the lease after receiving advice from federal Labor Resources Minister Madeleine King.

The lease renewal was rejected partially due to federal government plans to absorb Jabiluka into Kakadu.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said at the time the government decision meant “there will never be mining at Jabiluka,” home to some of the oldest rock art in the world.

The decision was a major win for the Mirrar traditional owners and environmental groups but prompted ERA to take legal action in the Federal Court.

ERA sued Ms King, Mr Monaghan, the federal and NT governments as well as the Jabiluka Aboriginal Land Trust and the Northern Land Council.

Justice Geoffrey Kennett on Monday heard from ERA barrister Richard Lancaster SC that the four-day hearing should be vacated as a compulsory acquisition of ERA shares had been arranged. 

The acquisition by North Limited would mean “ERA would be indirectly wholly owned by Rio Tinto”, the court was told.

“The affairs of ERA would be susceptible to control by Rio Tinto in accordance with its stated intentions which relevantly include repeated statements of a disinclination to carry out mining at Jabiluka,” Mr Lancaster said.

The judge heard that respondents to the court action, including the federal government and traditional owners, had held discussions with the mining company and supported the move to vacate the hearings.     

“ERA considers there are good prospects that the proceedings can be resolved by the agreement of all parties in, but not before early June,” Mr Lancaster said.

That allowed time for ERA shareholders to lodge any objections. 

Justice Kennett vacated the proceedings and ordered that a case management hearing should be held before June 9, with costs reserved. 

In its 2023 annual report, ERA said there were no plans to develop the Jabiluka area into a uranium mine, saying it could not do so without the approval of the traditional owners.

It has said its priority would be to rehabilitate the Ranger mine, which comes at an estimated cost of $2.2 billion.

The next leader of the Liberals has been urged to fight for Australians and to forgo ideological or culture wars.

Liberals deputy leader Sussan Ley and shadow treasurer Angus Taylor are vying for the top spot, with Northern Territory senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price joining forces with Mr Taylor in a tilt for deputy leader.

As the party tries to rebuild after its worst election defeat since World War II, ex-NSW Liberal president Jason Falinski has called on MPs to rethink their priorities.

“I don’t think we need to focus on left or right,” Mr Falinski told ABC radio on Monday.

“I don’t think Australians think along that sort of ideological spectrum.

“What we need to focus on is helping Australians get ahead.”

Mr Falinski used to hold the Sydney seat of Mackellar but came under scrutiny during the 2022 federal election after he attended an event with controversial Liberal candidate for Warringah Katherine Deves, who once claimed transgender children were being “surgically mutilated and sterilised”.

Both lost their respective battles in those seats during an election that arguably marked the start of the Liberal Party’s downward trajectory.

The former politician urged Liberals to move away from the culture wars over societal issues.

“You can’t say we want government out of the boardroom, just so we can put it in the bedroom,” he said.

“When the Liberal Party is framing its policies in terms of the so-called culture wars, we’re losing votes, we’re splintering our electorate coalition.

“When we are framing issues in terms of economic policy, we’re bringing our electoral coalition together.

NSW Liberal senator Dave Sharma warned that whoever wins the leadership can’t allow the party to break into warring left-right camps.

“They’re both honest about the scale of the challenge we face and they’re both committed,” he said of the two main contenders.

“It’s important to make a collegiate approach after this leadership ballot – there are not enough of us to break apart into warring camps.

“We need to all pull in the same direction.”

Senator Sharma also said the outside leadership contender, Victorian Tim Wilson, hadn’t been in touch with him but he was aware of the support being given to Mr Wilson by Mr Falinski.

Mr Wilson has claimed victory in the Melbourne seat of Goldstein over independent Zoe Daniel, although she is yet to concede.

“Tim is a fighter, and I think our supporters – any supporters of any political party after the loss that we’ve just had – want someone who’s going to fight,” Mr Falinski said.

“But it’s not really a pay-in to Tim Wilson.

“Whoever the next leader is has to embody that fighting spirit if we’re going to get ahead.”

The Liberals will elect the new opposition leader on Tuesday, while the National Party will go to a leadership vote on Monday.

The Labor government is likely to have at least 92 seats in the lower house, and the coalition 40, out of 150 spots. Some eight seats are still in doubt.

The outrider for the Nationals leadership, which will be decided within hours, is pushing for the junior coalition party to dump the “ridiculous” net zero emissions target.

Queensland Senator Matt Canavan will challenge current party leader David Littleproud when Nationals politicians go to a vote on Monday afternoon.

He hopes to give the coalition a “fighting chance” at the next election after Australian voters delivered a bruising defeat at the most recent political contest.

“I don’t think the Australian people were given enough of a choice at the last election,” he told 2GB on Monday.

“(At the election) we basically said, ‘look, things are bad but we’re not proposing any major radical changes to fix it’.

“I have been an agent of change.”

Party leaders generally sit in the lower house, but having leaders in the Senate is not unprecedented, he said, pointing to the Greens who will soon appoint a leader from their upper chamber team.

“It’s unconventional … (but) we are in unconventional times,” Senator Canavan said.

“The Liberal-National coalition has suffered the worst defeat since World War II and so I think it is time we perhaps look to unconventional responses to get ourselves back in the game.”

His opposition to cutting Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero by 2050, and his outspoken nature, have given him recognition within the party and in the regions.

On Monday, he continued to label moves towards net-zero as “craziness” and vowed to dump the policy if he wins the party leadership.

He has also urged his party to diversify from its usual rural and regional voter base and run more candidates in outer-suburban seats, noting many in these areas feel forgotten by “capital city-based media”.

Mr Littleproud is still tipped to re-take the Nationals crown, but while Senator Canavan says he has done an excellent job change is needed.

“We didn’t win,” he said, of the coalition’s shattering federal election loss on May 3.

“This job, like any major leadership role, is a performance-based job, and I think we do need a different strategy.”

The Nationals will have one less person in their partyroom meeting on Monday after Northern Territory Country Liberal Party senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price moved to the Liberal party room from the Nationals.

She’s now running for the deputy Liberal leadership under leader contender Angus Taylor ahead of a vote on Wednesday.

Nationals politicians, including Senator Canavan, have lashed Senator Price for the move, although she can choose which party room to sit in.

“Jacinta, if she wanted to do this, she could have done it a different way,” he said.

“I also don’t think it’s fair for the Northern Territory people.

“She was elected over a week ago on a platform that she would sit in the National party room.”

The Labor government is likely to have at least 92 seats in the lower house, and the coalition 40, out of 150 spots. Some eight seats are still in doubt.

Anthony Albanese is preparing to announce his senior team for Labor’s second term in office, with fresh faces poised to join the ministry.

The finalised ministerial line-up is anticipated on Monday after Labor locked down more than 90 seats in a convincing election victory.

Competition for leadership spots has been fierce following the influx of new talent and the usual factional carve-up between the states and the left and right factions.

Factional manoeuvring has already claimed two senior ministers, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and Industry Minister Ed Husic.

The latter used an appearance on ABC’s Insiders to slam the call endorsed by Deputy Prime Minister and right leader Richard Marles, with Mr Husic labelling him a “factional assassin”.

Sam Rae, Daniel Mulino, Jess Walsh and Tim Ayres will be elevated to the frontbench.

Some cabinet appointees will be handed fresh portfolios but Treasurer Jim Chalmers, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, Defence Minister Richard Marles and Trade Minister Don Farrell will remain in the same jobs.

The refreshed leadership team will sink its teeth into Labor’s second-term policy agenda, with Mr Albanese nominating 20 per cent cuts to student debt as a top priority for the new parliament. 

The prime minister has also declared a “clear mandate to build more housing” to help address affordability woes.

Building 100,00 homes for first-time buyers featured in the party’s election pitch, along with five per cent deposits.

Labor has a few outstanding agenda items it hopes to knock over in its second term, including establishing a federal environment protection agency.

The Liberals, the Nationals and the Greens are all locked in leadership battles. 

Liberals deputy leader Sussan Ley and shadow treasurer Angus Taylor are vying for the top spot, with Northern Territory senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price joining forces with Mr Taylor in a tilt for deputy leader.

A party room vote is scheduled for Tuesday.

In the Nationals’ party room, incumbent leader David Littleproud also faces a challenge from Queensland senator Matt Canavan.

The Greens are also without a leader after Adam Bandt lost his seat almost 15 years since he was first elected to parliament.

Senators Mehreen Faruqi and Sarah Hanson-Young are shaping up as frontrunners ahead of the party room vote on Thursday.

President Donald Trump reportedly is set to accept a luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet as a gift from the royal family of Qatar during his trip to the Middle East this coming week, and the US could convert the plane into a potential presidential aircraft.

ABC News reported that Trump will use the plane as a new version of Air Force One until shortly before he leaves office in January 2029, when ownership will be transferred to the foundation overseeing his yet-to-be-built presidential library. 

The gift is expected to be announced when Trump visits Qatar as part of a trip that also includes stops in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the first extended foreign travel of his second term.

Administration officials, anticipating questions about the president accepting such a large gift from a foreign government, have prepared an analysis arguing that doing so would be legal, according to ABC. 

The Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, Article I, Section 9, Clause 8, bars anyone holding government office from accepting any present, emolument, office or title from any “King, Prince, or foreign State,” without congressional consent. 

Trump intends to convert the Qatari aircraft into a plane he can fly on as president, with the Air Force planning to add secure communications and other classified elements to it. 

But it will still have more limited capabilities than the existing planes that were built to serve as Air Force One, as well as two other aircraft currently under construction, according to a former US official.

The existing planes used as Air Force One are heavily modified with survivability capabilities for the president for a range of contingencies, including radiation shielding and anti-missile technology. 

They also include a variety of communications systems to allow the president to remain in contact with the military and issue orders from anywhere in the world.

The official told Associated Press that it would be possible to quickly add some countermeasures and communications systems to the Qatari plane, but that it would be less capable than the existing Air Force One aircraft or long-delayed replacements.

Neither the Qatari plane nor the upcoming VC-25B aircraft will have the air-to-air refuelling capabilities of the current VC-25A aircraft, which is the one the president currently flies on, the official said.

Air Force One is a modified Boeing 747. 

Two exist, and the president flies on both, which are more than 30 years old. 

Boeing has the contract to produce updated versions, but delivery has been delayed while the company has lost billions of dollars on the project.

Delivery has been pushed to some time in 2027 for the first plane and in 2028 — Trump’s final full year in office — for the second.

ABC said the new plane is similar to a 13-year-old Boeing aircraft Trump toured in February, while it was parked at Palm Beach International Airport and he was spending the weekend at his Mar-a-Lago club. 

Trump’s family business, the Trump Organisation, which is now largely run by his sons, Donald Trump Jr and Eric Trump, has vast and growing interests in the Middle East. 

That includes a new deal to build a luxury golf resort in Qatar, partnering with Qatari Diar, a real estate company backed by that country’s sovereign wealth fund. 

Administration officials have brushed off concerns about the president’s policy interests blurring with the family’s business profits. 

They note that Trump’s assets are in a trust managed by his children and that a voluntary ethics agreement released by the Trump Organisation in January bars the company from striking deals directly with foreign governments. 

But that same agreement allows deals with private companies abroad. 

That is a departure from Trump’s first term, when the organisation released an ethics pact prohibiting both foreign government and foreign company deals.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, when asked Friday if the president during his upcoming trip, might meet with people tied to his family’s business, said it was “ridiculous” to suggest Trump “is doing anything for his own benefit”.

The US and China have resumed crucial tariff talks that have put the global economy on edge, but it’s unclear exactly how much progress negotiators are making behind closed doors.

US President Donald Trump wrote on social media that “great progress” was being made and even suggested a “total reset” was possible as the sides took their seats for the second and final scheduled day of discussions in Geneva on Sunday. 

Beijing has yet to comment directly, but its official news agency took a tough approach, saying China will “firmly reject any proposal that compromises core principles or undermines the broader cause of global equity”. 

Still, Trump wrote Sunday on social media that “great progress” was being made. 

He gave no further details, and officials at the White House also offered little information during and after the opening day of discussions. 

Two officials speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter confirmed that the talks had resumed on Sunday morning.

The discussions could help stabilise world markets roiled by the US-China stand-off that has ships in port with goods from China unwilling to unload until they get the final word on tariffs. 

The discussions have been shrouded in secrecy, and neither side made comments to reporters as they left Saturday. 

“Talks should never be a pretext for continued coercion or extortion, and China will firmly reject any proposal that compromises core principles or undermines the broader cause of global equity,” Xinhua said in an editorial.

As with the day before, the delegations left the villa designated for talks after a couple of hours for a lunch break. 

Trump last month raised US tariffs on China to a combined 145 per cent, and China retaliated by hitting American imports with a 125 per cent levy. 

Tariffs that high essentially amount to the countries’ boycotting each other’s products, disrupting trade that last year topped $US660 billion ($A1.0 trillion).

Even before talks got underway, Trump suggested on Friday that the US could lower its tariffs on China, saying in a Truth Social post that ” 80 per cent Tariff seems right! Up to Scott!” — referring to lead negotiator and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

The talks mark the first time the sides have met face-to-face to discuss the issues. 

And though prospects for a breakthrough are slight, even a small drop in tariffs, particularly if taken simultaneously, would help restore some confidence. 

“Negotiations to begin de-escalating the growing US–China trade war are badly needed and it’s a positive sign that both sides were able to gracefully move beyond their bickering over who had to call first,” Jake Werner, director of the East Asia Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, said.

The tariff fight with China has been the most intense. 

Trump’s tariffs on China include a 20 per cent charge meant to pressure Beijing into doing more to stop the flow of the synthetic opioid fentanyl into the United States. 

The remaining 125 per cent involve a dispute that dates back to Trump’s first term and comes atop tariffs he levied on China back then, which means the total tariffs on some Chinese goods can exceed 145 per cent.

China’s trade deficit, which came to a record $US263 billion ($A410 billion) last year, has also been a major target of Trump’s complaints. 

Dumped cabinet minister Ed Husic believes speaking out on the conflict in Gaza may have contributed to his demotion as he fired shots at factional bosses behind the decision. 

The former industry and science minister lashed Richard Marles, with the move to ditch him thought to have been signed off by the Victorian right faction leader and deputy prime minister.

Speaking frankly after his ousting, Mr Husic said Mr Marles had chosen to “wield the factional club to reshape the ministry”.

“When people look at a deputy prime minister, they expect to see a statesman, not a factional assassin,” he told ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday.

Asked if Mr Marles put his ambition to boost his numbers ahead of the good of the Labor Party and government, Mr Husic said “a lot of people would draw that conclusion”.

The first Muslim to be made a cabinet minister, Mr Husic agreed his willingness to speak out following “the horrors of October 7”, when Hamas attacked Israel in 2023, triggering a large-scale assault on Gaza, may have factored into his relegation to the backbench.

“I think it’s been a factor in there,” he said.

“Would I do things differently? I don’t think so.

“I don’t think I could ever stay silent in the face of innocent civilians being slaughtered in their tens of thousands and being starved out of Gaza.”

Following Labor’s resounding win at the polls, the party’s progressive left and more conservative right factions have been carving up the limited ministerial spots.

Mr Husic was dumped to rebalance the ledger between the NSW and Victorian right, with the former over-represented in cabinet as spots are decided on a proportional basis between factions and states.

Mark Dreyfus also lost his spot as attorney-general in the factional antics.

He will be replaced by Victorian MP Sam Rae, a factional ally of Mr Marles.

Another Victorian from the right, Daniel Mulino, has been promoted to the ministry, as have senators Jess Walsh and Tim Ayres from the left.

Western Australian MP Anne Aly, the first Muslim woman elected to federal parliament, is expected to be elevated to the senior ministry. 

Former leader of Tasmanian Labor, Bec White, told Sky News she had not made a deal to secure an assistant minister spot ahead of her successful run in the federal seat of Lyons.

The prime minister will assign portfolios this week.

Mr Husic said he had “walked the political desert” before and would keep fighting for a technology-fuelled growth agenda from the back bench.

“We need to burn through the timidity that has shackled us in the first term,” he said. 

“We are going to need to make big changes in a world that is changing fast to ensure the country stands on its own two feet.”

As science and industry minister, he oversaw the set-up of a multi-billion dollar manufacturing fund and pushed quantum technology as a major opportunity for Australia.