Jim Chalmers will meet with the RBA and financial regulators today to talk the impact of Trump’s tariffs.

There is a bit of an increased sense of urgency because Trump is now threatening to increase the tariff he has already placed on China, after China responded to Trump’s original tariffs with tariffs of its own (this is what we talk about when we talk about trade wars)

The attendees include:

RBA Governor Michele Bullock

ASIC Chair Joe Longo

APRA Chair John Lonsdale

Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy

ACCC Chair Gina Cass-Gottlieb

Chalmers has already met with the Commonwealth, NAB, ANZ, Westpac, Super Members Council, ASFA and Macquarie heads.

And while the Coalition are running around saying this is an indication Chalmers thinks Australia is going into recession (which it isn’t) he found a defender in former LNP senator Arthur Sinodinos who told the Nine network:

It’s a confidence building measure with the electorate to say, ‘look, we’re getting our best brains together to work out how we diversify our markets, how we adjust our economy, how we get ready for this.

It’s the sort of thing you’d expect any government to do.”