Australia’s Chalmers to Press Bessent for Exemption to Tariffs

Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he would be traveling to Washington DC later on Sunday as the US ally presses its case to be excluded from tariffs.

The trip is of critical importance for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his center-left government, which must hold an election within the next three months and has been trailing in recent opinion polls.

Albanese has been under intense pressure from local lawmakers and business executives to secure the exemptions, after painstaking negotiations during Donald Trump’s first term avoided similar trade imposts.

“Trade and tariffs will be part of the conversation, but not the ...