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1 week ago | 
michaelwest.com.au | Rex Patrick |Michael Pascoe |Duncan Graham |Andrew Blakers |Michael West
Chinese e-marketplace Temu and fast-fashion retailer Shein will raise prices next week as US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and crackdown on low-value imports push up costs for the companies known for their budget offerings. In nearly identical letters to customers this week, the two companies said they will be increasing prices starting April 25 and encouraged shoppers to purchase “now at today’s rates”.
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1 week ago | 
michaelwest.com.au | Rex Patrick |Michael Pascoe |Duncan Graham |Andrew Blakers |Michael West
Buyers beware – it costs an average of $1 million to enter the housing market in most major cities as political leaders try to woo potential homeowners. Adelaide has become the fifth capital city to break into the million-dollar club, with the median house price in South Australia’s capital now $1,000,202. Domain’s March House Price Report, released on Thursday, revealed the city of churches has joined Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra on the million-dollar list.
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1 week ago | 
michaelwest.com.au | Rex Patrick |Michael Pascoe |Duncan Graham |Andrew Blakers |Michael West
US President Donald Trump says he will personally attend a meeting of Japanese and US trade officials, a surprise move that underlines his eagerness to oversee negotiations triggered by his barrage of tariffs on global imports. Japan sent its economic revitalisation minister Ryosei Akazawa to kick start the talks, expecting to face Trump’s Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in Washington DC and had hoped to limit the scope of discussions to trade and investment matters.
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1 week ago | 
michaelwest.com.au | Rex Patrick |Michael Pascoe |Duncan Graham |Andrew Blakers |Michael West
The World Trade Organisation has sharply cut its forecast for global merchandise trade from solid growth to a decline, saying further US tariffs and spillover effects could lead to the heaviest slump since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The WTO said it expected trade in goods to fall by 0.2 per cent this year, down from its expectation in October of 3.0 per cent expansion. It said its new estimate was based on measures in place at the start of this week.
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1 week ago | 
michaelwest.com.au | Rex Patrick |Michael Pascoe |Duncan Graham |Andrew Blakers |Michael West
Spotify has been hit by a service outage which has left thousands of users unable to stream music. The audio streaming giant has confirmed it is aware of a problem with its services and said in a statement posted to social media that it was “checking them out”. Thousands of users have reported being unable to stream music via Spotify online, with audio already downloaded to a user’s library only being accessible.
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1 week ago | 
michaelwest.com.au | Rex Patrick |Michael Pascoe |Duncan Graham |Andrew Blakers |Michael West
Voters will have the final say on which leader prevailed after Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese spanned well-trodden ground in a debate rematch. The prime minister faced off against the coalition leader at the ABC’s western Sydney studios for the second out of four campaign trail clashes on Wednesday night.
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1 week ago | 
michaelwest.com.au | Rex Patrick |Michael Pascoe |Duncan Graham |Andrew Blakers |Michael West
Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton have kicked off their rematch with hope for the future and a look to the past. The prime minister is facing off against the coalition leader at the ABC’s western Sydney studios for the second out of four clashes before the May 3 election. In the showdown moderated by the ABC’s David Speers, Mr Dutton opened by urging voters to reflect on the past three years when they go to the ballot box in a few weeks.
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1 week ago | 
michaelwest.com.au | Rex Patrick |Michael Pascoe |Duncan Graham |Andrew Blakers |Michael West
China’s economy expanded at a 5.4 per cent annual pace in January-March, the government says, supported by strong exports before US President Donald Trump’s rapid increases in tariffs on Chinese products. With the trade war clouding the outlook, analysts expect the world’s second-largest economy to slow significantly in coming months, however, as tariffs as high as 145 per cent on US imports from China take effect.
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1 week ago | 
michaelwest.com.au | Rex Patrick |Michael Pascoe |Duncan Graham |Andrew Blakers |Michael West
British inflation has slowed to its weakest in three months in March, according to official figures that show other measures closely watched by the Bank of England cooling, too. Inflation slowed to an annual rate of 2.6 per cent in March from 2.8 per cent in February, and below expectations of 2.7 per cent in a Reuters poll of economists, the Office for National Statistics said on Wednesday.
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1 week ago | 
michaelwest.com.au | Rex Patrick |Michael Pascoe |Duncan Graham |Andrew Blakers |Michael West
China has appointed a new top international trade negotiator amid tariff tensions with the US. The government said Li Chenggang has been appointed to replace Wang Shouwen, who took part in the trade negotiations for the 2020 trade deal between China and the US. The world’s two largest economies have been steadily increasing tariffs on each other’s goods since the US raised tariffs on dozens of countries.
