Trump promised not to impose tariffs on Australian steel: Malcolm Turnbull

Australia has secured an exemption from metals tariffs announced last week by U.S. President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told the media.


Trump confirmed the exemption in an early Saturday morning call between the two leaders, Turnbull said. He said the conversation also touched on the security alliance between the US and Australia, as well as possible talks between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.


“I was very pleased the president was able to confirm that he would not have to impose tariffs on Australian steel and aluminum,” Turnbull said. “It was a very good and productive discussion with the president."


Turnbull said the two leaders discussed the importance of a “fair and reciprocal” trade relationship between Australia and the US.

Love wins! Same-sex marriage is now legal in Australia

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Australians have voted in favour of legalising same-sex marriage in a historic non-binding poll.

The vote showed 61.6 per cent of people favour allowing same-sex couples to wed, the Australian Bureau of Statistics said, BBC reported on Wednesday.

More than 12.7 million people — about 79.5 per cent of eligible voters — took part in the eight-week postal survey.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the "overwhelming" result meant his government would aim to change the law in parliament before Christmas.

"Australians have spoken in their millions and they have voted overwhelmingly yes for marriage equality," he said after the result was announced.

"They voted yes for fairness, yes for commitment, yes for love. And now it is up to us here in the parliament of Australia to get on with it."

Supporters began celebrating the result in public spaces across Australia on Wednesday, waving rainbow flags and singing and dancing.

"This is an amazing outcome and we should all be very proud of this amazing country," Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce, a prominent same-sex marriage supporter, told a jubilant crowd in Sydney.

Former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, a high-profile same-sex marriage opponent, said the parliament should "respect the result".
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Refugees and border wall: Details of Trump's calls to Mexico prez, Aus PM

A leading American daily on Thursday posted highly classified transcripts of Donald Trump's conversations with Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, in yet another embarrassing leak for the US President.

In his conversation with Nieto, according to the transcripts, Trump is heard pleading that the latter should stop saying that Mexico would not pay for the wall.

In his conversation with the Australian Prime Minister, Trump is heard getting agitated on the refugee issue and eventually telling him that the call was the most irksome of the day.

Transcripts of both the conversations that happened on January 27 and 28 respectively were posted by The Washington Post.

The top American daily is now owned by Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos. Notably, in the last few days, Amazon has succumbed to the Chinese demands on restricted internet freedom.
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What next for US-Australian ties after Malcolm Turnbull mocks Donald Trump?

As has been widely reported, Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull recently lampooned Donald Trump in a stand-up performance at Canberra's Midwinter Ball. The ball is the Aussie equivalent of the White House correspondents dinner that Trump boycotted this year, except that proceedings are supposed to be confidential.

The pair had a bumpy start to their relationship. A phone call in late January between the two was far from harmonious with Trump extremely critical of a refugee resettlement deal negotiated with the Obama administration. He allegedly told the PM that it was “the worst call by far” to a world leader and tweeted:

Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017

His administration eventually agreed to implement the agreement. Asylum seekers are currently being assessed with extreme vetting.

Audio of the send-up was leaked by veteran Australian political journalist Laurie Oakes. He argued that he did not feel obliged to follow the “off-the-record tradition” as he did not attend the event and thinks the ban is inappropriate. The Guardian's Katharine Murphy agrees:

If the press gallery continues to agree that midwinter ball speeches off the record, we have jumped the bloody shark https://t.co/KFCbpbFf09

— Katharine Murphy (@murpharoo) June 15, 2017

Turnbull's routine involves some impersonation of the president complete with gestures. Politicususa summarised the script:

“The Donald and I … we are winning and winning in the polls. We are winning so much We are winning like we have never done before. We are winning in the polls. We are. Not the fake polls. Not the fake polls. They’re the ones we are not winning in. We are winning in the real polls. You know the online polls. They are so easy to win. I know that, do you know that? I kind of know that. They are so easy to win. I have this Russian guy..”
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