Australia has rebuffed calls to declare what role the nation would play in a potential war with China over Taiwan, with a minister saying it won’t automatically follow the US into a future conflict.

Washington is reportedly pushing both Japan and Australia to clarify their positions for a hypothetical conflict over the democratically-government island, which Beijing considers part of its territory.

Acting Defence Minister Pat Conroy on Sunday reiterated the nation’s long established stance on whether it would choose to join the US in war.

“The decision to commit Australian troops to a conflict will be made by the government of the day, not in advance,” he told ABC’s Insiders program.

“Sovereignty will always be prioritised.”

Elbridge Colby, a key Pentagon strategist, has been pressing defence officials from both countries to declare their positions in meetings over the issue, according to a report in the Financial Times.

He is also leading a US review of its nuclear submarine deal with Australia under the three-nation AUKUS partnership following concerns the plan to supply the vessels would harm the American navy.

The US will be among 19 countries participating in Exercise Talisman Sabre, which begins on Sunday and will involve 30,000 defence force personnel.

The event was the nation’s most important joint military exercise with the US, Mr Conroy said, and it was expected to be closely monitored by China after the Asian superpower observed the last four such operations.

“We will obviously observe their activities and monitor their presence around Australia, but we’ll also adjust how we conduct those exercises,” he said.

“People observe these exercises to collect intelligence around procedures, around the electronic spectrum and the use of communications.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese landed in Shanghai late Saturday, kicking off a six-day tour which will focus on economic and security issues.

Defence analysts have flagged Mr Albanese will likely raise live-fire drills conducted by the Chinese military off Australia’s coast earlier in the year after Beijing failed to notify authorities ahead of time.

The Chinese flotilla also circumnavigated the country in a projection of power.

But Mr Conroy would not be drawn on whether Mr Albanese will directly raise those concerns with Chinese President Xi Jinping when the two leaders sit down during his second visit as prime minister.

Enticing Chinese travellers to Australia will be the priority of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s tour of China.

After touching down late on Saturday with fiancee Jodie Haydon, Mr Albanese’s six-day visit to the Middle Kingdom begins in the bustling financial hub of Shanghai, where he will promote Chinese tourism to Australia.

China is the second-largest visiting tourist market to Australia, trailing only New Zealand.

In the 12 months to March, 860,000 trips were made to Australia by visitors from mainland China, contributing $9.2 billion to the domestic economy, or about a quarter of the total short-term international visitor spend.

While travel numbers have bounced back since Beijing put Australia back on its approved destination list for organised tour groups, trips still significantly lag pre-COVID-19 pandemic figures. 

More than 1.4 million Chinese travellers visited Australia in 2019.

Recovering that shortfall is crucial for businesses that are reliant on tourist spending and have suffered from lower international travel and higher input costs in recent years.

On Sunday, the prime minister will oversee the signing of a memorandum of understanding between online travel giant Trip.com – which owns popular bookings sites such as Skyscanner – and Tourism Australia.

He will also unveil a new tourism ad campaign to air in China, hoped to further promote Australia as a travel destination.

“Not only is Australia’s beef, barley, red wine and lobster the best in the world – we’re the best place in the world to come for a holiday,” Mr Albanese said.

“Expanding our tourism relationship with China will mean more jobs for Australians and a boost to Australian businesses.”

The ad will feature Chinese cinema heartthrob Yu Shi – whose acting credits include appearances in the wildly popular fantasy trilogy Creation of the Gods – and Ruby the Roo, an animated kangaroo voiced by Australian actor Rose Byrne.

The joint Australian-Chinese billing underscores Mr Albanese’s mission to boost cultural and interpersonal links, as well as economic ones.

On Sunday morning, Mr Albanese will meet with former Socceroo Kevin Muscat, who now coaches professional football outfit Shanghai Port FC – the side he led to a third Chinese Super League title in 2024.

The former midfield hatchet man has brought over a host of Australian coaching staff, including fellow ex-Socceroo Ross Aloisi, in a sign of the deepening collaboration between Australia and China on the sporting field.

President Donald Trump has threatened to impose a 30 per cent tariff on imports from Mexico and the European Union starting on August 1, after weeks of negotiations with the key US allies and top trading partners failed to reach a comprehensive trade deal.

In an escalation of Trump’s trade war, the fresh tariffs were announced in separate letters to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum posted on Truth Social on Saturday.

The European Union and Mexico are among the largest US trading partners.

Trump has sent similar letters to 23 other US trading partners this week, including Canada, Japan and Brazil, setting blanket tariff rates ranging from 20 per cent up to 50 per cent, as well as a 50 per cent tariff on copper.

The August 1 deadline gives countries targeted by Trump’s letters time to negotiate a trade deal that could lower the threatened tariff levels.

The EU had hoped to reach a comprehensive trade agreement with the US for the 27-country bloc.

Three EU officials told Reuters on Saturday that Trump’s threats represent a negotiating tactic.

Trump’s letter to the EU included a demand that Europe drop its own tariffs, an apparent condition of any future deal.

“The European Union will allow complete, open Market Access to the United States, with no Tariff being charged to us, in an attempt to reduce the large Trade Deficit,” Trump wrote.

EU President von der Leyen said the 30 per cent tariffs “would disrupt essential transatlantic supply chains, to the detriment of businesses, consumers and patients on both sides of the Atlantic.”

She also said while the EU will continue to work towards a trade agreement, they “will take all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required.”

Canada got a higher tariff rate of 35 per cent compared to Mexico, with both letters citing fentanyl flows, even though government data shows the amount of the drug seised at the Mexican border was significantly higher than the Canadian border.

“Mexico has been helping me secure the border, BUT, what Mexico has done, is not enough. Mexico still has not stopped the Cartels who are trying to turn all of North America into a Narco-Trafficking Playground,” Trump wrote.

Mexico sends more than 80 per cent of its total exported goods to the US and free trade with its northern neighbour drove Mexico to overtake China as the US’s top trading partner in 2023.

The European Union had been bracing for the letter from Trump outlining his planned duties on the United States’ largest trade and investment partner after a broadening of his tariff war in recent days.

The EU initially hoped to strike a comprehensive trade agreement, including zero-for-zero tariffs on industrial goods, but months of difficult talks have led to the realisation it will probably have to settle for an interim agreement and hope something better can still be negotiated.

The 27-country bloc is under conflicting pressures as powerhouse Germany urged a quick deal to safeguard its industry, while other EU members, such as France, have said EU negotiators should not cave into a one-sided deal on US terms.

Trump’s cascade of tariff orders since returning to the White House has begun generating tens of billions of dollars a month in new revenue for the US government. US customs duties revenue shot past $US100 billion ($A152 billion) in the federal fiscal year through to June, according to US Treasury data on Friday.

Spokespeople for Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Mexico’s Economy Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The Trump Organization – US President Donald Trump’s family business – will team up with Romanian real estate developer SDC Imobiliare to build a tower block with luxury apartments in the capital, Bucharest.

“Trump Tower Bucharest will be developed in the heart of Romania’s capital, one of Europe’s most vibrant and dynamic emerging markets, bringing premium residences under the Trump brand to the region,” the companies said in a statement on Saturday.

They did not specify the location or start date for work on the tower block, which is being branded as luxury residential apartments in Romania, the region’s second-biggest economy.

Romania’s economy stalled in the first quarter amid a drawn-out political crisis and worries about a potential downturn, underperforming most of its peers in central and eastern Europe.

Romania, a European Union and NATO member state, has found itself at the centre of a dispute between Europe and the Trump administration over democratic principles after the constitutional court in December cancelled an ongoing presidential vote due to suspicions of Russian meddling, denied by Moscow.

US Vice President JD Vance has said Romania’s decision to cancel the election – in which a far-right, pro-Russian candidate was the frontrunner – based on what he called “flimsy evidence” meant Bucharest did not share American values.

The country re-ran its presidential ballot in May and centrist President Nicusor Dan won, with Trump later congratulating him on his victory.

More than a million pieces of ancient rock art have secured World Heritage status in a bittersweet listing for environmentalists and traditional custodians fearful nearby industrial activity is damaging the engravings.

The Murujuga rock art landscape in Western Australia was listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as a heritage site on Friday after intense lobbying by the federal government.

“Achieving World Heritage status ensures stronger protections under Australian legislation and will allow the world to celebrate this unique cultural landscape,” Environment Minister Murray Watt said while visiting the organisation’s headquarters in Paris.

The federal environment minister was accompanied by representatives from the Western Australian government and Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation.

Murujuga contains the world’s largest, densest and most diverse collection of Indigenous rock art engravings – known as petroglyphs.

Some are estimated to be more than 50,000 years old.

They depict animals, plants and human figures and are visible due to the colour and contrast between the removed varnish layer and the underlying brighter weathered rind of the host rocks.

The site was previously put forward to UNESCO for World Heritage listing in 2023 but Australia’s application was referred back in May.

UNESCO recommended state and federal governments address concerns that nearby acid emissions, including those from Woodside’s Burrup gas hub, were degrading the art.

The peninsula in northwest WA near Karratha is home to two gas plants, a fertiliser plant and iron ore and salt export facilities.

Senator Watt recently gave provisional approval for a Woodside project on the peninsula to continue operating until 2070.

Mardathoonera woman and Murujuga traditional custodian Raelene Cooper, who was at the UNESCO meeting, welcomed the World Heritage listing but criticised the removal of recommended protections, including halting industry expansion. 

“Today, Australia rewrote the World Heritage listing in the interests of the gas industry,” she said.

Environmentalists were also concerned the Woodside project extension could cause further damage.

“The world is now watching,” Australian Conservation Foundation chief executive Kelly O’Shanassy said.

“The onus is on the Australian government to make sure the values recognised by UNESCO are not jeopardised by ongoing industrial pollution.”

WA Greens Fossil Fuels spokesperson Sophie McNeill called on the state and federal governments to reverse the draft approval for the North West Shelf extension.  

“It’s absolutely disgraceful that Labor put in so much effort to get those protections removed,” she told AAP.

Australia has 21 properties on the World Heritage list, which includes the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and the Great Barrier Reef.

UNESCO added several other sites to its list, including the Xixia Imperial Tombs in China and the Faya Palaeolandscape in the United Arab Emirates. 

Environmentalists fear the extension of a gas project could jeopardise the future of an ancient Indigenous rock art collection after it was listed as a World Heritage site.

The Murujuga rock art landscape in Western Australia was listed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) as a heritage site on Friday after intense lobbying by the federal government.

“Achieving World Heritage status ensures stronger protections under Australian legislation and will allow the world to celebrate this unique cultural landscape,” Environment Minister Murray Watt said while visiting the organisation’s headquarters in Paris.

Murujuga contains the world’s largest, densest and most diverse collection of rock art engravings – known as petroglyphs – and some are estimated to be more than 50,000 years old.

They depict animals, plants and human figures, and are visible due to the colour and contrast between the removed varnish layer and the underlying brighter weathered rind of the host rocks.

The site was previously put forward to UNESCO in 2023 but Australia’s application was referred back in May.

UNESCO recommended state and federal governments address concerns that nearby acid emissions, including those from Woodside’s Burrup gas hub, were degrading the art.

The peninsula in northwest WA near Karratha is home to two gas plants, a fertiliser plant and iron ore and salt export facilities.

Senator Watt recently gave provisional approval for a Woodside project on the peninsula to continue operating until 2070.

While environmentalists welcomed the heritage listing, they warned that the Woodside project extension could cause further damage.

“The world is now watching,” Australian Conservation Foundation chief executive Kelly O’Shanassy said.

“The onus is on the Australian government to make sure the values recognised by UNESCO are not jeopardised by ongoing industrial pollution.

If the federal government is serious about protecting Murujuga and making sure it is not moved to an “in danger” list, Senator Watt should reject the gas hub’s proposed expansion, Ms O’Shanassy added.

Mardathoonera woman and Murujuga traditional custodian Raelene Cooper, who was at the UNESCO meeting, also cautioned that industry could still harm the rock art site.

“Fertiliser plants are still being built around our sacred sites and polluting gas plants will emit toxic acid on our rock art for another 50 years,” she said.

“We will continue to fight for protection for this very special place, and the world is now aware of what we are up against.”

Greens Leader Larissa Waters joined the chorus of advocate voices in urging Senator Watt to cancel the approval for the North West shelf.

“UNESCO had warned that Woodside’s gas plant threatened the longevity of the rock art prior to the listing, but Minister Watt successfully lobbied other nations when he should have simply rejected Woodside’s climate bomb extension in the first place,” she said.

Senator Waters added that world heritage laws should be bolstered to better protect listed sites.

Australia has 21 properties on the World Heritage list, which includes the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and the Great Barrier Reef.

UNESCO added several other sites to its list, including the Xixia Imperial Tombs in China and the Faya Palaeolandscape in the United Arab Emirates. 

The prime minister faces a precarious task navigating Australia’s complex relationship with its most important trading partner as he embarks on a week-long voyage to China.

Collaborating on new technologies and building inter-personal ties will be the focus of Anthony Albanese’s second trip to the Asian powerhouse as prime minister.

The visit will centre on the annual Australia-China leaders’ meeting with Premier Li Qiang, while he will also have a one-on-one with President Xi Jinping – the pair’s fourth formal meeting.

Mr Albanese flies out of Sydney to the financial hub of Shanghai on Saturday morning, before visits to the capital Beijing and Chengdu in the southwestern province of Sichuan, known as the home of giant pandas.

After relations between China and Australia soured during the COVID-19 pandemic, Labor’s election in 2022 precipitated a normalisation in trade and dialogue, with a return to regular high-level meetings.

But tensions remain fraught.

China’s military assertiveness in the region is an increasing concern for Canberra.

A People’s Liberation Army navy vessel ruffled feathers among Australian security circles in February, when it circumnavigated the continent and conducted live fire drills, causing commercial flights to be diverted.

The plight of jailed Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun, who is serving a suspended death sentence in China over espionage charges, is also straining the relationship.

Meanwhile, Beijing has taken issue with Australia’s commitment to end Chinese-owned company Landbridge’s 99-year lease of Darwin Port early on security grounds.

Mr Albanese said he would raise the full range of issues with his Chinese counterparts.

“We co-operate where we can, we disagree where we must and we’re able to have those honest conversations about some of the disagreements that are there,” he told reporters in Sydney on Friday.

But the main focus of the trip will be growing business links.

China is far and away Australia’s biggest trading partner.

Two-way trade between the nations in 2024 was valued at $312 billion, more than the nation’s three next-biggest partnerships combined.

The prime minister will be accompanied by a high-powered delegation of business leaders, including from mining giants Rio Tinto, BHP and Fortescue, steelmaker BlueScope, universities Monash and UNSW, and Macquarie Bank.

Mr Albanese’s first term focused on removing trade restrictions on several of Australia’s traditional key exports to China – including beef, wine and barley.

This trip will look to build on those areas while developing new economic opportunities.

The prime minister was coy on whether he backed Chinese ambassador Xiao Qian’s calls for an expanded free-trade agreement encompassing artificial intelligence, healthcare and clean energy.

“We’ll engage constructively across the range of issues and the range of potentials that’s there,” Mr Albanese said.

“But certainly, in the areas such as green energy, for example, there is a real prospect of further engagement.”

Green steel, in particular, will be the topic of much discussion.

“Chinese policymakers and steelmakers are serious about decarbonising the steel sector, because they have to be,” said Australia China Business Council president David Olsson.

“For Australia, this presents a generational opportunity. We’re one of the world’s largest iron ore suppliers, and we have the renewable energy, industrial capability and investment capital to move further down the value chain.”

Rio Tinto’s Australian chief executive Kellie Parker said it was a valuable opportunity to deepen collaboration between suppliers and steelmakers in developing the technology.

Mr Albanese will also aim to highlight the people-to-people links between the two nations.

On Sunday, he will meet with former Socceroo Kevin Muscat, who now coaches Chinese Super League club Shanghai Port FC, and will visit the headquarters of online travel agency Trip.com to help promote Chinese tourism to Australia.

An ancient Indigenous rock art collection has been recognised as a World Heritage-listed site after a renewed bid by the federal government.

Environment Minister Murray Watt hailed the designation by UNESCO while visiting the organisation’s headquarters in Paris as part of a push to get the Murujuga rock art landscape in Western Australia listed.

“Achieving World Heritage status ensures stronger protections under Australian legislation and will allow the world to celebrate this unique cultural landscape,” Senator Watt said.

Murujuga contains the world’s largest, densest and most diverse collection of rock art engravings – known as petroglyphs – and some are estimated to be more than 50,000 years old.

They depict animals, plants and human figures, and are visible due to the colour and contrast between the removed varnish layer and the underlying brighter weathered rind of the host rocks.

The site was previously put forward to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation in 2023 but Australia’s application was referred back in May.

UNESCO recommended state and federal governments address concerns that nearby acid emissions, including those from Woodside’s Burrup gas hub, were degrading the art.

The peninsula in northwest WA near Karratha is home to two gas plants, a fertiliser plant and iron ore and salt export facilities.

Senator Watt recently gave provisional approval for a Woodside project on the peninsula to continue operating until 2070.

“For more than 50,000 years, the Ngarda-Ngarli people have protected and managed this significant land and seascape – and today, I am proud to announce that Murujuga will receive another level of protection via the World Heritage system,” Senator Watt said in the French capital overnight.

“The Murujuga nomination had the free, prior and informed consent of the five language groups who all come together to care for Murujuga today.

“They were represented by the Murujuga Aboriginal Corporation, who I am delighted to stand alongside in Paris to oversee this historic moment for our country.”

Mardathoonera woman and Murujuga traditional custodian Raelene Cooper, who is at the UNESCO meeting, said she welcomed the global recognition of Murujuga but cautioned that industry could still harm the rock art site.

“Fertiliser plants are still being built around our sacred sites and polluting gas plants will emit toxic acid on our rock art for another 50 years,” she said.

“Global scrutiny will now be applied to what is happening at Murujuga.

“We will continue to fight for protection for this very special place, and the world is now aware of what we are up against.”

Australia has 21 properties on the World Heritage list, which includes the Budj Bim Cultural Landscape, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park and the Great Barrier Reef.

UNESCO added several other sites to its list overnight including the Xixia Imperial Tombs in China and the Faya Palaeolandscape in the United Arab Emirates. 

Walmart is recalling about 850,000 stainless steel water bottles because the lid can “forcefully eject” and unexpectedly strike consumers – resulting in permanent vision loss for two people to date.

The recall covers Walmart’s “Ozark Trail 64 oz Stainless Steel Insulated Water Bottles,” which have been sold at the chain’s stores across the United States since 2017.

According to a notice published by the US Consumer Product Safety Commission on Thursday, these products pose “serious impact and laceration hazards”.

That is because when a consumer attempts to open the bottles “after food, carbonated beverages or perishable beverages, such as juice or milk, are stored inside over time,” the lid can eject forcefully, the CPSC notes.

Walmart had received three reports of consumers who were injured after being struck in the face by the lids when opening their bottles.

And two of those people “suffered permanent vision loss after being struck in the eye,” the CPSC added.

Consumers are urged to stop using the now-recalled Ozark Trail bottles – and contact Walmart for a full refund.

Shoppers can also bring the products to their local Walmart store for that compensation.

The European Union is bracing for a possible letter from US President Donald Trump outlining planned duties on his country’s largest trade and investment partner.

The EU initially hoped to strike a comprehensive trade agreement, including zero-for-zero tariffs on industrial goods, but months of difficult talks have led to the realisation it will probably have to settle for an interim agreement and hope something better can still be negotiated.

The 27-country bloc is under conflicting pressures as powerhouse Germany urged a quick deal to safeguard its industry while other EU members, such as France, have said EU negotiators should not cave into a one-sided deal on US terms.

After keeping much of the world guessing his intentions, Trump has outlined new tariffs for a number of countries, including allies Japan and South Korea, along with a 50 per cent tariff on copper and a hike to 35 per cent on Canadian goods.

Trump’s cascade of tariff orders since returning to the White House has begun generating tens of billions of dollars a month in new revenue for the US government, and data due later on Friday is expected to show collections since inauguration day in January through June have shot past $US100 billion ($A152 billion) – equal to or greater than the largest annual take ever from customs duties.

“We remain locked and loaded to sign an agreement with the US. Let’s see what happens when our friends in Washington wake up a few hours from now,” EU spokesman Olof Gill told a briefing.

A source with knowledge of the US-EU negotiations said an agreement was close but that it was hard to predict if the EU might still get a letter announcing more tariffs or when any agreement might be finalised.

An EU diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the EU was strong when it acted together. 

“It is important that the pain or gain is distributed equally. We cannot have just one country or sector that takes the win.”

Trump’s 35 per cent tariff on Canada is an increase from the current 25 per cent rate he had assigned and is a blow to Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who was seeking to agree a trade pact with the US.

According to Trump, the new rate will take effect on August 1 and could go up further if Canada retaliates.

“Throughout the current trade negotiations with the United States, the Canadian government has steadfastly defended our workers and businesses. We will continue to do so as we work towards the revised deadline of August 1,” Carney said on X.

The EU has drawn up countermeasures against Trump’s tariffs but has not imposed them. 

An initial 21 billion euros ($A37.2 billion) of levies on US imports due in April was suspended before taking effect. 

Another package, on 72 billion euros of US imports, could also be applied.

“Basically, if a political decision is made to extend the suspension, then we’ll extend the suspension,” Gill said.

“If we need to unsuspend it, we can do that, you know, at the drop of a hat,” he added.

Elsewhere US Secretary of State Marco Rubio met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, as the two powers vied to push their agendas in Asia.

Both sides described the meeting as constructive.

China this week warned the United States against reinstating hefty levies on its goods next month and China has also threatened to retaliate against countries that strike deals with the US to cut China out of supply chains.