Australian Dollar Falls Below 60 US Cents, Share Market Slides After Trump Tariffs

The benchmark ASX 200 index of the top 200 companies in Australia fell 2 percent on April 9.

In this photo illustration, Australian $50, $20, $10 and $5 banknotes and dollar coins are shown arranged for a photograph in Newcastle, Australia on March 25, 2025. Roni Bintang/Getty Images

The Australian stock market fell 2 percent on April 9 while the Australian dollar has dropped to less than US60 cents.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index is down to 7,351.10 points at the time of writing.

This comes as the Trump administration’s reciprocal tariffs, including a 104 percent tariff on China, came into effect at midnight U.S. time on April 9.

Close to $50 billion has been wiped off the Australian share market amid fears of a recession and concerns about how the global tariffs, particularly on China, will impact Australian shares.

One major faller on the market was pharmaceutical giant CSL, whose shares have fallen 5 percent at the time of writing after Trump suggested he may impose tariffs on pharmaceuticals.

IG market analyst Tony Sycamore raised concerns that the economic impact of tariffs could be huge.

“At the risk of sounding dramatic—we are on the verge of seeing the two largest economic and military superpowers collide at high speed with Australia caught squarely in the middle,” he said.

“If current lines hold—this has the potential to dwarf the economic impact on the Australian economy that was viewed during both the GFC and COVID.”

However, a recent analysis released by Treasurer Jim Chalmers predicted the impact of tariffs would be “modest.”

Treasury expects Australia’s real GDP will decline by 0.1 percent and inflation to rise by 0.2 percent in 2025, compared to a situation with no tariffs.

Chalmers was due to meet with Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michele Bullock, Treasury Secretary Steven Kennedy, and other economic leaders on April 9.

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United States Arthur Sinodinos reflected on the Treasurer’s meeting, saying, “It’s the sort of thing you'd expect any government to do.”

“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,” Sinodinos told Sunrise.

Meanwhile, the Australian dollar is now at its lowest level since the COVID-19 pandemic, when it fell to about US56 cents.

ANZ economists said in a research note on April 9 that the AUD to USD dropped further into the mid-0.59 range due to risk-off sentiment.

The Australian dollar is also weak against other currencies, currently fetching 0.54 Euro and 0.46 pound sterling, presenting a problem for overseas travel.

Chalmers is due to face off with Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor in a debate on live television in the evening on April 9, following a leaders debate between Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton on April 8.

The Epoch Times has contacted Treasury for comment.

Prime Minister Keen to Work with India, China

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also sought to install confidence in the Australian economy during a press conference in Sydney.

He suggested that Australia could build a relationship with China, India, or other nations.

“The sanctions or the tariffs that Donald Trump has put in represent an impact on the world because the U.S. is the world’s largest economy. But 80 percent of world trade does not involve the United States,” Albanese said.

“There are enormous opportunities for Australia to take advantage of where we are in the world in ASEAN, building on the work that we’ve done, building up trade relationships ... building our relationship with India, continuing to build on our economic relationship with China, a relationship that we’ve repaired since we’ve been in government.”

Impact of Reciprocal Tariffs from Beijing

The Opposition has also been seeking briefings from the Treasury, with Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor suggesting more economic modelling is needed.

Taylor said he was concerned Chalmers had not asked the Treasury to model the impact of reciprocal tariffs. He also wants to look into what is happening to people’s wealth.

“Treasury hasn’t modelled either of those things and the treasurer hasn’t asked Treasury to and you would have thought in situations like this he would do exactly that,” Taylor said in a joint press conference with Dutton.

Taylor said the Opposition does “not want to see reciprocal tariffs” but highlighted the extra modelling was needed due to threats from Beijing of reciprocal tariffs.

“China is threatening reciprocal tariffs and we know there’s a real risk that they will come from other sources as well, like Europe,” Taylor said.

“The history of trade barriers going up like this, the history, if you go back when they have occurred in the past is they are often reciprocated.

Meanwhile, Dutton raised concerns Australia could be heading into a recession under Labor.

“Labor has made decisions in subsequent budgets now which make it harder for the economy to function with international headwinds,” he said when asked if Australia was heading into a recession.