Treasurer Jim Chalmers calls emergency crisis talks of Australia’s top economic officials amid Trump tariffs

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has called an emergency crisis meeting of Australia’s top economic officials to deal with Donald Trump’s tariffs as the Australian dollar plummets.

The unprecedented gathering during an election campaign has occurred after the Trump Administration threatened to impose 104 per cent tariffs on China, Australia’s biggest trading partner.

Financial markets are now expecting another 100 basis points of Reserve Bank interest rate cuts by the end of 2025.

‘We’re working closely with the regulators and financial institutions to ensure that everything possible is being done to safeguard Australians from this global volatility,’ Mr Chalmers said.

Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michele Bullock and Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy are being summonsed.

Banking regulator John Lonsdale, the chairman of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority, will also be in attendance along with Australian Securities and Investments Commission chair Joe Longo and Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chief Gina Cass-Gottlieb.

Fears about a global recession have hit the Australian dollar, which on Wednesday fell to 59 US cents for the first time since March 2020 during the start of Covid. 

The futures market now regards a super-sized 50 basis point Reserve Bank interest rate cut on May 20 as an 82 per cent chance.

It also sees the RBA cutting rates to 3.1 per cent by the end of 2025, down from 4.1 per cent now.

Another 100 basis points worth of cuts, on top of February’s easing, would see the cash rate fall to the lowest level since February 2023.