Donald Trump’s administration wants to strike 90 trade deals in 90 days but the challenges to quickly resolving the president’s trade war are already apparent.

European Union trade chief Maros Sefcovic will on Monday be among the first foreign trade officials to come to Washington for urgent negotiations about the steep tariffs that Trump announced on April 2. 

The bloc is among the biggest US trade partners with almost $US1 trillion ($A1.6 trillion) in two-way trade in 2024.

However, when Sefcovic arrives, Trump’s top tariff negotiator, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, will be in Buenos Aires to show support for Argentina’s economic reforms rather than in Washington, even though Argentina accounts for a mere $US16.3 billion ($A25.9 billion) in total annual trade with the US

Bessent’s absence on Monday highlights doubts among trade experts about how effectively the administration can manage so many simultaneous negotiations and the overall prospects for reaching 90 deals in 90 days.

“Teeing up these decisions is going to take some serious negotiations,” said Wendy Cutler, a former US Trade Representative chief negotiator who heads the Asia Society Policy Institute. 

“There’s no way during this time frame we’re doing a comprehensive agreement with any of these countries.”

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro countered on Fox Business Network on Friday that Bessent, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick could accomplish the job.

“So we’re going to run 90 deals in 90 days. It’s possible,” he said.

Ultimately, Navarro said, “the boss (Trump) is going to be chief negotiator – nothing is done without him looking very carefully at it”.

Trump started the 90-day countdown clock this week when he paused implementing his higher tariffs for many countries after financial markets went into a tailspin over fears of recession and inflation, among other factors. 

He said the 90-day pause would allow countries to reach bilateral deals with the US

Regaining the confidence of financial markets is another critical objective during the 90 days. 

Investors sold US Treasury debt this week, spiking interest rates and sending the dollar lower amid fears of a US recession and resurgent inflation. Gold, a haven for investors in times of crisis, hit a record high.

Cutler said this turmoil would put pressure on the Trump team for some quick wins.

“The onus is going to be on them to show that they can quickly conclude agreements with countries and instil some confidence in the market and with other trading partners that there is an off-ramp here,” she said.

Growing friction with China, which did not get a reprieve from new US tariffs and imposed counter-tariffs in equal measure, added to the gloom this week.

Reaching trade deals that satisfy both Trump and financial markets is a “huge task”, Cutler said.

Instead, the Trump team will probably have to prioritise key countries and extend the 90-day pause for others, she said.

Even the smallest of Trump’s first-term trade deals, revising the automotive and steel provisions of the US-South Korea Free Trade Agreement, took more than eight months, while the comprehensive US-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade took more than two years.

“We can get to a point where the president can close these deals,” Greer said.

“He can negotiate, and if there’s a deal that’s good, he can consider taking it, and if not, then he’ll have the tariff.”

The logistics of co-ordinating 90 sets of negotiations is just one hurdle for the thinly stretched administration.

Many key positions have not been filled and the officials who are there are often busy with other tasks, diplomats said, such as the Treasury officials who met with Ukraine on Friday about a critical minerals deal.

Greer told Fox News that his 200-person staff was “working around the clock” as proposals were traded back and forth with foreign counterparts.

The Treasury has just one other senior official confirmed by the Senate, Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender. 

Trump has not even nominated anyone for the key post of undersecretary for international affairs, and a career official is serving in an acting capacity.

Greer, too, is relying heavily on career staff, with several key deputy positions requiring Senate confirmation unfilled.

Another complicating factor is uncertainty about US positions on trade matters, a second diplomatic source added, saying the top Trump trade advisers each had views.

Some countries, including Britain, Australia and others, have discussed trade with the administration since Trump’s inauguration in January, with little result.

“It’s not like there’s a sheet of paper with firm talking points that is changing hands,” said one diplomatic source. 

“It’s a process. And I’d say use the term ‘talks’, not ‘negotiations’.” 

Australia and Indonesia have discussed shared concerns about regional and global economies amid escalating trade tensions in the wake of US President Donald Trump’s tariff hikes.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers spoke with his Indonesian counterpart, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, on Saturday afternoon against the backdrop of global uncertainty caused by the US government’s decision to increase tariffs on a host of trading partner countries.

The two discussed their shared concerns for regional and global economies, recent market movements, and their countries’ responses to escalating trade tensions.

“Our strategy to respond to escalating trade tensions is more resilience, more diverse markets and more engagement in our region and beyond – and that’s what all these conversations are about,” Dr Chalmers said in a statement on Saturday.

The treasurer has already spoken with South Korea and the UK about the global economic uncertainty despite the US hitting pause on the introduction of sky-high tariffs.

The tariffs’ introduction, deadlines, backflip, and escalating US-China trade war have rocked markets, creating uncertainty for traders and investors and prompting fears of recession.

China accounts for a third of Australian exports but will have less income for Australian goods and services as the upgraded 145 per cent US tariffs impact its already lumbering economy.

Dr Chalmers will take time out from the federal election campaign next week to travel to Washington for the G20, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Group spring meetings.

US tariffs are expected to be a focus of conversation at the meetings, which bring key stakeholders from countries around the world together to discuss global economics.

Despite heightened global concerns about trade relations in the wake of the tariff war, Dr Chalmers said Australia’s position remained steady.

“Every country is working through what to do in these uncertain times and Australia’s in good stead because we have the right plan, we’ve made good progress in our economy, and we’ve got strong relationships with countries like Indonesia,” he said.

Vultures have an image problem.

Seen as ugly and associated with death, the large social raptors – which live on every continent except Antarctica and Australia – are among the least loved animals in the world.

But conservationists in Africa are trying to change that.

They’ve launched an effort to save endangered vultures by trying to put a dollar figure on their incredible value.

A recent report by the BirdLife International conservation organisation estimated vultures were worth $US1.8 billion ($A2.9 billion) a year to certain ecosystems in southern Africa, which might surprise anyone not familiar with the clean-up, pest control and anti-poaching work performed by one of the most efficient scavengers on the planet.

“They are not up there on the pretty scale and they are not popular, but we know they are very useful,” BirdLife International extinction prevention co-ordinator Fadzai Matsvimbo said.

The report comes at an important time for Africa’s vultures – six of the 11 species found on the continent are listed as endangered or critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which says vultures are highly threatened in many parts of the world.

In Africa, some species have declined by almost 90 per cent, Matsvimbo said.

Conservationists hope the report will make authorities and the public more aware of the positive impact of vultures.

It focused on research in Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe and shows how a wake of vultures – the term for a group of feeding vultures – can strip a decomposing carcass in hours, clean up ecosystems and reduce the chance of disease spreading and the presence of pests such as rats and feral dogs.

Vultures also have extremely strong stomach acid, don’t get food poisoning and are able to consume and neutralise anthrax, botulism and other bacteria and toxins in carcasses that would kill other animals, removing deadly threats from the environment.

This week alone, more than 50 hippos died from suspected anthrax poisoning in a reserve in Congo.

Vultures are nature’s “best sanitation services”, Matsvimbo said.

Conservationists have raised the case of the drastic loss of vultures in India during the past 30 years and how that led to a health crisis.

A study published in 2024 said half a million people died in India because of the spread of bacteria and infections in the absence of vultures.

Matsvimbo said vultures in Africa are also used as “sentinels” by game rangers because they are often the first to spot a dead animal and can lead rangers to where poachers might be active.

They have even proven useful in helping farmers locate dead or injured livestock.

Vultures are unique among land vertebrates in that they only feed on carrion – dead animals. That makes them especially susceptible to poisoning by humans – intentionally by poachers and others who want to get rid of them or by mistake when pests are the target.

Hundreds of vultures can die from a single poisoned carcass.

Vultures are also regularly killed or maimed in collisions with powerlines in Africa. And they are increasingly being killed for belief-based reasons, said Kerri Wolter, the CEO of the Vulpro vulture rehabilitation centre in South Africa, which treats sick and injured vultures to be released back into the wild.

Because vultures had such outstanding eyesight and instincts when it came to finding a dead animal, Wolter said they were viewed by some as being clairvoyant and able to foresee death.

Their body parts, and especially their head, are used in potions or as charms to predict the future.

“Our work is to change the mindsets of people – for them to see vultures and think, wow that is amazing,” Wolter said.

Matsvimbo and Wolter said vultures had been given a raw deal by filmmakers in Hollywood, where they were almost always shown as evil and sinister.

Movies have done for vultures what Jaws did for sharks, Wolter said.

“I love watching The Lion King, but every time they do the vulture part, my heart breaks,” said Matsvimbo.

“Vultures are never portrayed in a positive way. I have a bone to chew with these moviemakers.

“Or should that be bone to pick?”

Politicians are ensuring Western Australia is in the election campaign spotlight as they try to woo voters with ferry rides and celebrity appearances.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese brought out the big guns with partner Jodie Haydon joining the campaign trail in Perth on Saturday.

The pair hoped for a day of smooth sailing after hopping aboard a ferry called Tricia, named after the beloved elephant that died aged 65 at Perth Zoo several years ago, for a trip along the Swan River to the Labor-held seat of Perth.

“Where you go around Perth at the moment, chances are you’ll be in a Labor-held electorate,” he told reporters.

“And that’s because we understand that Australia isn’t just Kirribilli House, it isn’t just the east coast, isn’t just engaging in Canberra.”

Labor unveiled a $60 million promise to expand the ferry network in WA if it wins the election.

Mr Albanese also pledged to deliver a raft of targeted support to the state including urgent care clinics, protecting the share of the GST and backing the passenger rail line Metronet.

The prime minister defended himself against accusations he was growing cocky as the second week of the campaign comes to an end, telling reporters he takes “nothing for granted”.

“The fact that we have gone through the first couple of weeks of the campaign without changing our key policies every day is a contrast which is there,” he said.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton started his day in Perth with a meeting with star boxer Danny Green and Stop the Coward Punch chair Justin Manolikos in the marginal electorate of Swan.

Mr Dutton pledged $1.5 million to support the anti-violence campaign, framing it as part of a promise “keep Australians safe”.

He brushed off speculation he could lose his own ultra-marginal seat of Dickson in Queensland off the back of new polling data, saying he has previously been targeted by progressive activist group Get Up.

“It’s a fundraising opportunity, like it’s a scam,” Mr Dutton told Nine.

“I’ve held my seat, it’s a marginal seat I’ve never taken for granted.”

Mr Dutton then attended the WA seat of Tangney where he was greeted by cheering, clapping and in-awe supporters during a rally.

Mr Albanese will formally launch Labor’s campaign in Perth on Sunday, the same day Mr Dutton is expected in Sydney for the Liberals’ launch.

WA was key in delivering Mr Albanese his 2022 election victory, with the location of Labor’s launch showcasing its importance to the party’s re-election hopes.

The major parties are getting in early to try to cement their pitches to voters before a slew of public holidays, aiming to sway Australians before pre-poll centres open on April 22.

Mr Albanese said it will take work each and every day of the remainder of the campaign to sway voters despite experts saying many have already made up their minds.

“I won’t clock off, you know, I’m not even going to the Bunnies this afternoon, we are working,” he said of his favourite NRL team.

Up to half of all voters now cast ballots early and the steep increase shows how little campaigns matter overall, ANU political scientist Jill Sheppard said.

The earlier campaign launches suggest both parties have something up their sleeves with Dr Sheppard anticipating the coalition and Labor to make an old-style big splash announcement on Sunday.

The vast majority of voters at this point had either made their minds up or were getting ready to vote early, she said.

“Unless one leader was to make a disastrous campaign misstep, it’s not really going to shift folks at this time.”

Beijing has increased its tariffs on US imports to 125 per cent, hitting back against President Donald Trump’s decision to raise duties on Chinese goods and upping the stakes in a trade war that threatens to upend global supply chains.

The retaliation on Friday intensified global economic turmoil unleashed by Trump’s tariffs. US stocks ended a volatile week higher, but the safe haven of gold hit a record high during the session and benchmark US 10-year government bond yields posted their biggest weekly increase since 2001 alongside a slump in the dollar, signaling a lack of confidence in America Inc.

One US survey of consumers showed inflation fears have mounted to their highest since 1981, while financial institutions have been forecasting an ever greater risk of recession.

Trump downplayed the market turbulence, predicting the dollar would strengthen and saying many tariffs could settle in around 10 per cent once the United States cut trade deals with all the countries that want to negotiate.

“When people understand what we’re doing, I think the dollar will go way up,” he told reporters aboard Air Force One late on Friday.

“The bond market’s going good. It had a little moment but I solved that problem very quickly.”

The White House has said more than 75 countries have sought negotiations and that future deals would bring certainty.

India and Japan are among the powers to have advanced toward trade talks, but generally foreign leaders have puzzled over how to respond to the biggest disruption to the world trade order in decades.

The tit-for-tat tariff increases by the US and China stand to make goods trade between the world’s two largest economies impossible, analysts say. That commerce was worth more than $US650 billion ($A1 trillion) in 2024.

“The president made it very clear: When the United States is punched, he will punch back harder,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Friday.

The dollar slid and a sell-off intensified in US Treasuries, the world’s biggest bond market, as gold climbed.

A second day of data on US inflation showed price pressures were not yet building broadly across the US economy, although the Producer Price Index for March did show industrial metals prices rising due to import levies on things like steel and aluminum, in place for a month now.

In a reversal of previous surveys, the latest one also showed weakening confidence among Trump’s fellow Republicans.

Consumers’ 12-month inflation expectations soared to 6.7 per cent this month, the highest since 1981, from 5.0 per cent in March, according to the survey.

This week, Trump announced a 90-day tariff pause on dozens of countries while ratcheting up tariffs on Chinese imports effectively to 145 per cent.

China retaliated with more tariffs on Friday. China’s finance ministry called Trump’s tariffs “completely unilateral bullying and coercion.”

Beijing indicated this would be the last time it matched US tariff rises but left the door open for other types of retaliation.

“If the US truly wants to have talks, it should stop its capricious and destructive behaviour,” Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the US, wrote on social media.

“China will never bow to maximum pressure of the US”

UBS analysts in a note called China’s declaration “an acknowledgement that trade between the two countries has essentially been completely severed.”

Leavitt, in turn, delivered a warning to Beijing: “If China continues to retaliate, it’s not good for China.”

with DPA

All eyes are on the west as the major parties focus their efforts on a handful of seats key to securing election triumph.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton hit the ground running in Perth on Saturday, meeting boxer Danny Green and Stop the Coward Punch chair Justin Manolikos in the marginal electorate of Swan.

Mr Dutton pledged $1.5 million to support the anti-violence campaign, framing it as part of a promise “keep Australians safe”.

He brushed off speculation he could loose his own ultra-marginal seat of Dickson in Queensland off the back of new polling data, saying he has previously been targeted by progressive activist group Get Up.

“It’s a fundraising opportunity, like it’s a scam,” Mr Dutton told Nine.

“I’ve held my seat, it’s a marginal seat I’ve never taken for granted.”

It came as Labor pumped up a promise to invest $60 million to expand the Swan River ferry network in Perth and pledged 650 new jobs in remote Australia.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will formally launch Labor’s campaign in Perth on Sunday, the same day Mr Dutton is expected in Sydney for the Liberals’ launch.

Western Australia was key in delivering Mr Albanese his 2022 election victory, with the location of Labor’s launch showcasing its importance to the party’s re-election hopes.

The major parties will try to cement their pitches to voters before a slew of public holidays, keen to get in before pre-poll centres open on April 22.

Campaign launches tend to be held much later during the five-week race but the Easter long weekend is approaching and the Anzac Day weekend follows at the same time as school holidays.

Up to half of all voters cast their ballots early and the steep increase shows how little campaigns mattered overall, ANU political scientist Jill Sheppard said.

“The fact that they are going a little bit earlier this year suggests that they have something up their sleeve,” she said.

“The Liberal Party has been pretty wide on policy detail so far, so I suspect that there will be an old-style, big splash announcement … and possibly the same for Labor as well.”

The vast majority of voters at this point had either made their minds up or were getting ready to vote early, Dr Sheppard said.

“What we’ll see in the campaign launches is policy announcements that reveal the exact groups of voters the parties are targeting,” she said.

“Unless one leader was to make a disastrous campaign misstep, it’s not really going to shift folks at this time. 

“It’s all about maintaining the appearance of competence.”

Labor also made a pitch to marginal voters in Melbourne’s east, pledging $45 million to redevelop a basketball centre in Nunawading into a new indoor sports stadium.

Ahead of announcing a delay to his so called Liberation Day tariffs, US President Donald Trump referred to people viewing the US bond market as “a little queasy”.

Local traders and investors have also been seasick as recession fears, tariff deadlines, a subsequent backflip and an escalating US-China trade war sent the ASX rocking violently into the red or green each day as markets were lashed in a sea of uncertainty.

“There’s starting to be a real concern that we’re going to see a recession, and recession is going to come fairly quickly in the US,” ATFX chief market analyst Nick Twidale told AAP.

“We’ve got estimates on what’s going to happen and how these tariffs are going to impact industry-by-industry but no one really knows how bad it’s going to be.”

While the US only accounts for six per cent of Australian exports, China buys a third.

The upgraded 145 per cent US tariffs on an already lumbering Chinese economy will mean China has less income for Australian goods and services, unless Beijing unlocks further stimulus.

“It’s a game of chicken and you’ve got the world’s two largest economies potentially not trading with each other and that’s going to have a huge impact on global growth,” according to Capital.com senior financial market analyst Kyle Rodda.

“I don’t know who blinks first.”

Local market winners were few, mostly gold miners as investors flocked to the safe haven, with gold itself surging to new all time highs yet again this week.

The traditionally defensive consumer staples stocks also finished higher, with Woolworths and Coles up more than three and five per cent for the week. The grocery giants are proven performers amid the adage of never letting a crisis go to waste.

Financials and materials stocks, which make up roughly half the Australian market, were each down more than 0.7 per cent for the week despite the bourse (briefly) enjoying its best day since 2020 on Thursday.

But as multi-year records and wild daily swings made for good headlines, cracks started to show in the US bond market, the $US29 trillion ($A46 trillion) ‘plumbing’ of the global financial system.

“The US Treasury pretty much underpins everything in the financial system,” Mr Rodda said.

“If you see a crisis of confidence there, everything seizes up.”

Demand for bonds and the US dollar – usually safe havens with an inverse relationship to shares – started to fall along with stocks as nations sold their US treasuries.

The bond sell-off reached levels not seen since 2001 during the dot-com crash and analysts have likened it to the COVID-era “dash-for-cash” in March 2020, with both preceding major downturns in global markets.

Another safe haven, the US dollar, also dropped sharply at the end of the week after US inflation fell more than expected.

The Australian dollar rose against the greenback on Friday but has been falling against most major currencies for weeks, with its fortunes tied closely to China’s and its less-liquid Yuan.

A weaker Australian currency could help offset some of the US tariff effects for local exporters to the US but it will also mean fuel, imports and overseas holidays become more expensive.

Markets will likely be at the mercy of headlines as trade partners pitch US market access over the next 88 days but the call that really mattered was the one neither China nor the US were so-far willing to make, Mr Rodda said.

“The key in these situations, is one side needs to be able to provide the other an off-ramp to de-escalate and also save face,” he said.

“I don’t know that off ramp necessarily looks like at the moment.”

Small business owners simply don’t have time for mental health.

They’re head of operations, head of marketing, head of sales. They keep customers happy and suppliers and overheads paid, and complete an average of 15 hours of government paperwork every week. 

“We sit and acknowledge that mental illness exists,” explains Jeremy Suggett.

“Then it’s, ‘Okay, let’s get back to that s*** storm that we’ve got to deal with for the rest of afternoon’.”

Mr Suggett has run successful Sydney medical device business Cosuda for the past 15 years but says when he has encountered difficulties as a result of financial crises, changes in government policy or unexpected tax hikes – there has been nowhere to turn.

And even if there was, there’s no point getting a doctor to write “a letter to myself” as boss because he couldn’t give himself time off to deal with it anyway.

The 47-year-old says government has played a role in “killing” small businesses and no doubt added to the pressures he faces by taxing on forecast earnings.

“There’s no incentive … for me to grow my business,” he explains.

“Every year when I pay my tax and they go, ‘Oh Jeremy, you had a good year this year, well done mate. We think you’re going to do (even better) so we’re going to actually get you to pay that up front now’.

“I went through this 10 years ago and my cashflow was just depleted from paying tax. And I thought, ‘Well, that’s it, what’s the point?”

With the global trade war and cost-of-living crisis ever threatening, Australia’s two-and-a-half million small business owners are dealing with more external pressure than ever.

They are experiencing high rates of stress, depression and anxiety, and low levels of wellbeing compared to the general population, according to Wellbeing and Prevention Coalition in Mental Health and the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia.

Of 250 operators surveyed by the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry last year, 34 per cent had received a mental health diagnosis in the previous 12 months, compared with 21.5 per cent of Australians aged 16 to 85 in Australian Bureau of Statistics data.

As well as the enormous impact on individual business owners, the loss of productivity is also having significant knock-on effects on the Australian economy to the tune of an estimated $220 billion annually, says Beyond Blue CEO Georgie Harman.

Small businesses make up 97 per cent of all Australian workplaces, contribute a third of GDP and employ over five million people, she says.

“We’re talking about people here, we’re talking about families, we’re talking about communities, we’re talking about health and wellbeing,” Ms Harman tells AAP.

“We haven’t nailed the uniqueness of the mental health needs of small businesses in particular … whether it be cash flow, isolation, loneliness, long hours or the fact it’s really personal: ‘It’s my identity. I employ my friends and family. If my business fails, I fail’.”

Personal relationships are deeply embedded in the day-to-day of running a business, Mr Suggett explains. 

“I get really invested in working with the people I’m working with as opposed to just looking at it as a business transaction,” he says.

Council of Small Business CEO Luke Achterstraat says a lot of owners feel “the weight of the world on their shoulders”.

“Behind every statistic is actually a family, an owner … who is often paying themselves last,” he says.

“There’s only so many hours in the day … Often, by the time they get around to their own wellbeing or to their own needs late into the evening … they realise they’ve got more paperwork to do.”

Mr Achterstraat says instead of adding to the “red tape” for enterprises that don’t have in-house legal or HR teams, government should be focusing on simplifying it.

Diagnosed with depression and anxiety at age 19, Mr Suggett knows what steps to take when he is feeling the ‘overwhelm’ and lives by the analogy that it is vital to “put your own oxygen mask on first”.

But he is in a minority.

While he always finds time to talk to contemporaries and contacts about their struggles, he doesn’t have time to establish a formal support network.

“You need someone else to drive it because you can’t have the people involved in it carry an extra load. It’s just not feasible,” he says.

Beyond Blue is one of few outlets running support services where struggling small business operators can seek free advice and assistance.

“All of our coaches have a small business background – they’ve got the t-shirt and they can absolutely connect with the people they’re working with,” Ms Harman says.

“Because by the time they are seeking the services out, they are have already reached crisis point … we’ve got to make it easy for them.”

Ms Harman says Labor and coalition election promises on mental health – both at or near to the $1 billion mark with a focus on youth services – are worthy of recognition and plug “immediate and urgent gaps”.

But for a relatively modest investment, government could be helping small business owners too: “the backbone of the Australian economy”.

Mr Achterstraat is less inspired.

“We really want to see both sides pull their socks up with respect to better policies around red tape and tax reform,” he says.

Mr Suggett is more scathing about politicians’ “flowery statements”.

“It’s just fluff,” he says.

The US government has acknowledged that drafting dozens of parallel trade agreements with countries around the world within three months is an ambitious undertaking.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt admitted that it was a massive task but said the negotiations are a team effort and she praised US President Donald Trump’s trade advisors.

According to the White House, more than 75 countries have contacted the US government so far to work towards a negotiated solution in the international trade conflict.

More than 15 countries have already submitted concrete proposals.

China increased its tariffs on US imports to 125 per cent on Friday, hitting back against Trump’s decision to raise duties on Chinese goods.

Faced with significant turbulence in the stock markets, Trump recently backtracked in the international trade conflict and suspended certain tariffs that had just come into effect for 90 days – with the exception of China.

During this tariff pause, negotiations with the affected countries are expected to take place.

Trump stated that his goal is to use tariffs to pressure other countries into lowering trade barriers for imports from the United States.

The tit-for-tat tariff increases by the US and China stand to make goods trade between the world’s two largest economies impossible, analysts say.

That commerce was worth more than $US650 billion ($A1 trillion) in 2024.

“The president made it very clear: When the United States is punched, he will punch back harder,” Leavitt told reporters on Friday.

While US stocks ended higher, the US dollar slid and a sell-off intensified in US government bonds – the world’s biggest bond market.

Gold, a safe haven for investors in times of crisis, scaled a record high.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is closely monitoring the bond market, Leavitt said.

As China retaliated with new tariffs on Friday, the country’s finance ministry called Trump’s tariffs “completely unilateral bullying and coercion”.

China indicated this would be the last time it matched US tariff rises but left the door open for other types of retaliation.

“If the US truly wants to have talks, it should stop its capricious and destructive behaviour,” Liu Pengyu, spokesman for the Chinese embassy in the US, wrote on social media.

“China will never bow to maximum pressure of the US.”

UBS analysts in a note called China’s declaration “an acknowledgement that trade between the two countries has essentially been completely severed”.

with DPA

The Nationals’ campaign, colloquially known as the wombat trail, has been charging ahead at full steam, with the leader canvassing four states and thousands of kilometres in a week.

But while a wisdom is the collective for wombats, this doesn’t always translate to the travelling campaign.

Their trail is far from as glamorous or regimented as the Liberal or Labor ones and the language is less polished.

As the prime minister and opposition leader posed with babies, David Littleproud cleaned baby spew off the floor of an outback pub in Winton.

As the two men vying for the top job roll into a city with a massive press pack before largely disappearing after holding a press conference, the Nationals leader usually ends the day at the local pub with his small team.

A small wooden wombat has also been travelling with the pack and has done so at every election since Mark Vaile took over as leader in 2005.

Mr Littleproud acknowledges the coalition had a rocky start to the first week of campaigning after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese fired the starting gun the morning after a major opposition policy announcement.

Peter Dutton used his budget reply speech to unveil his signature energy policy of pumping more gas into the grid and setting up an east coast reserve to bring down power prices.

“That oxygen was sucked away because (Mr Albanese) drove down the road to see the governor-general,” Mr Littleproud said.

“So obviously it was about trying to get that message and reset.”

His circuit from regional Victoria, across NSW, up to Darwin and back down through Queensland over the second week gives an insight into their strategy and seats in play in the run up to the May 3 election.

Calare in central west NSW, which covers areas like Orange and Bathurst, is a key seat for the Nationals as it faces a challenge from former National turned independent Andrew Gee.

It’s little wonder Mr Littleproud chose Mount Panorama in Bathurst to launch his key regional funding policy.

The coalition is also targeting both Northern Territory seats – Solomon, which takes in most of Darwin and Lingiari.

The outside money is on Bendigo, held by Labor on a more than 11 per cent margin, where the Nationals leader is making a habit of visiting.

All were toured by Mr Littleproud in the past week, across which he made a number of local funding and infrastructure announcements before unveiling his signature policy, a $20 billion regional investment future fund.

The perpetual fund that would spend $1 billion a year “should be a legacy for regional Australia”, he said.

Victory was even sweeter for the junior coalition partner as news broke of the fund and some Liberal MPs began blinking twice at the size of the regional commitment.

Mr Littleproud’s pitch can be whittled down to two major themes – cost of living and regional infrastructure.

The coalition’s pledge to halve the fuel excise, which would bring petrol prices down 25 cents a litre for 12 months, is popular in the regions where people routinely drive hundreds of kilometres.

The second theme largely includes healthcare, childcare and aged care, where what can be viewed in Canberra as small contributions are life-changing amounts of money for locals.

An $8 million commitment for more aged care services in Winton was met with tears as residents were promised a coalition government would back their most cherished project.

Entire generations of families that have had to up and leave when elderly parents and grandparents couldn’t find local beds would now be able to stay.

That’s what Mr Littleproud wants his legacy for regional Australia to be.