Australia in the World
Biden’s new Antarctic statement holds lessons for Australia
US President Joe Biden has used the occasion of this year’s Antarctic Treaty consultative meeting to release a new high-level policy statement on Antarctica. The “National…
Putting dollars behind “all tools of statecraft”
During an address to the Lowy Institute this month, Treasurer Jim Chalmers spoke of “the need for unprecedented coordination and ambition in our statecraft, harnessing all…
Whether EVs or solar panels, protectionism has the same distorting effect
It is commonly agreed that the Biden administration’s recently announced 100% tariff on Chinese made electric cars is entirely symbolic. Already impeded by a 25% tariff, China…
The macroeconomic limit of American exceptionalism
Donald Trump was long obsessed with trade deficits and railed it was “very bad” whenever the balance ran against the United States. So, it’s not surprising to see one of Trump’s…
Australia is increasingly spending around, not on, development
With a cost-of-living crisis, mounting pressures from other expenditure areas, and a looming federal election, the 2024-25 foreign aid budget is not quite Labor’s promised rebuild…
Was that a future Ambassador Morrison meeting a soon-to-be again President Trump?
After the week gone by, it’s pretty easy to see the world of differences that we might encounter should Peter Dutton become Australia’s next Prime Minister and Donald Trump win…
Economic diplomacy: Budgeting for deglobalisation
Moving onThere has been quite a movement in Australia in recent times towards better coordination of the three main arms of international relations policy – defence, development…
Australia’s new gas strategy makes for flawed foreign policy
The latest Australian federal budget, handed down on Tuesday night, pledges unprecedented support to making Australia a “renewable superpower”. Yet a new gas strategy that…
The cause for China’s coercion in the skies may lay under the water
During the Cold War, it was not unheard of for Soviet ships to attempt to disrupt US naval operations by “shouldering” vessels, meaning coming abreast and colliding in a semi…
Made in Australia meets China’s export juggernaut
China’s structural industrial overcapacity is undoubtedly the topic du jour.Travelling to Beijing in April, US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen exhorted her hosts to boost…