While Chalmers refrained from naming the President directly, he pointed squarely to Washington as the source of growing international economic instability – telling ABC Radio on Friday that, of the four major global economic shocks over the past two decades, “this one is a bit different to the first three because this one is imposed by policy”.
“That does introduce a whole new layer of uncertainty and volatility that everyone has to deal with. And I think people are pretty upfront about discussing that here,” he said.
The Treasurer explicitly referenced “policy decision out of DC” as the chief culprit behind much of the recent volatility, underscoring a shift from his earlier, more diplomatic posture.
In the past, he had avoided singling out Trump, instead using broader terms like “seismic” and “senseless” to describe US policy moves.
But on Friday, Chalmers made it clear: “These tariffs are unwarranted, they’re unnecessary and they are, as the Prime Minister and others have said, they’re an act of economic self‑harm.”
Chalmers said this view was widely shared at the recent G20 meetings.
“People have been talking about that in relatively blunt ways,” he said, adding that feedback from CEOs and economists has been equally direct – with many highlighting that Trump’s erratic, on-again off-again tariff regime is damaging to business confidence and long-term investment.
“There is a real sense that this volatility and unpredictability and uncertainty is really a defining and an ongoing feature of the global economy, and our own economy is not immune from that,” Chalmers said.
“So I think certainly people see this uncertainty and unpredictability as a new normal. That requires us to have a shift in our thinking.”
The G20 consensus, he said, was that the “best way” to respond to this entrenched uncertainty is “more engagement, more collaboration, more secure supply chains, more reliable markets and also more ambition in our own economic policies at home.
“And for us, that means making our economy more productive and more resilient and also making our budget more sustainable.”
While still careful to avoid naming Trump directly, Chalmers offered a thinly veiled jab at the President’s ad hoc tariff agenda: “The fact that it seems like each week there is a new announcement around tariffs, and that’s feeding into these escalating trade tensions and creating a lot of uncertainty.”
Asked about President Trump’s latest attacks on US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, Chalmers said he, “of course”, follows the President’s comments but would not “engage in a running commentary on the domestic politics of the United States”.
But he added pointedly: “We are big believers in central bank independence.
“The Reserve Bank is independent in Australia for good reason.”
