Peter Hartcher

Political and International Editor at Sydney Morning Herald

Political and International Editor at The Age

Worldly Journo

Articles

Messiah to pariah: Dutton stopped believing in Trump, and now we know why

6 days ago | smh.com.au | Peter Hartcher

Political and international editor April 19, 2025 — 5.00am, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. It wasn’t too long ago that many Coalition members looked to Donald Trump as their messiah. A little over two months ago, Peter Dutton said: “So, what I’d say about President Trump, and I think a lot of people realise this, but I think a lot are coming to grips with it as well, is he’s a big thinker and a dealmaker.
Trump’s gut tells him he’s got China on the ropes. He couldn’t be more wrong

1 week ago | watoday.com.au | Peter Hartcher

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Trump’s gut tells him he’s got China on the ropes. He couldn’t be more wrong

1 week ago | smh.com.au | Peter Hartcher

Political and international editor April 15, 2025 — 5.00am, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. That Donald Trump, he’s a crafty fellow. His madcap series of tariffs followed by escalations and then exemptions and then more tariffs may have looked like “peak stupid”, as one British commentator called it. But his secret intention all along was to isolate China, apparently.
A campaign of sound and fury pauses for a moment of constructive policy competition

1 week ago | smh.com.au | Peter Hartcher

, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. The good news is that both of Australia’s major political parties are competing to fix one of the country’s greatest failures – we occupy an entire continent yet can’t house our younger generation. Both announced new policies on Sunday aimed at first home buyers. Each has good elements and bad, but it’s now a serious contest to solve a real problem.
The politics of grievance was a winner for Trump. It’s not working for Dutton

1 week ago | smh.com.au | Peter Hartcher

The politics of grievance was a winner for Trump. It’s not working for DuttonWe’re sorry, this feature is currently unavailable. We’re working to restore it. Please try again later. Political and international editor April 12, 2025 — 5.00am, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Two weeks into an election campaign, the Liberal Party is still spending money on ads to introduce its leader to the voter.
The politics of grievance was a winner for Trump. It’s not working for Dutton

1 week ago | watoday.com.au | Peter Hartcher

How could a major party fumble basic policy decisions like this? It’s too late to make major policy changes once the campaign is under way. And it’s almost too late to make big, new policy announcements. We’ll see one or two at this weekend’s formal campaign launches by the two main parties, but then they’ll be just about out of time. Early voting starts in just over a week, on April 22.
Donald Trump’s China tariffs an economic act of war

2 weeks ago | smh.com.au | Peter Hartcher

, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Donald Trump’s antagonism of China has entered a new realm. Up to now, he’s been tormenting it with painful tariffs, as he has many other nations. But his new 104 per cent tax on America’s imports from China, on top of the pre-existing 25 per cent that was still in place from his first term in office, escalates it to an economic act of war.
Donald Trump’s China tariffs an economic act of war

2 weeks ago | watoday.com.au | Peter Hartcher

Much as today, America is not unprovoked. Among the provocations is Beijing’s deliberate tolerance of the mass export of fentanyl from China to the US for more than a decade. It’s a reverse opium war which has fed America’s deadly opioid addiction. Xi Jinping in recent years has made some limited efforts to curtail the trade to placate Joe Biden and Trump.
Trump’s tariffs: Friends with few benefits and foes with plenty

2 weeks ago | smh.com.au | Peter Hartcher

Political and international editor April 8, 2025 — 5.00am, register or subscribe to save articles for later. Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. For a hopeful moment, it seemed that the Trump administration was about to grant Australia an exemption from its new tariffs. It was last Friday week, March 28 Washington time, as the administration was putting together its “reciprocal tariff” list to be announced on Trump’s so-called “Liberation Day”.
Trump’s tariffs: Friends with few benefits and foes with plenty

2 weeks ago | watoday.com.au | Peter Hartcher

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