Australia dodges tariffs but risks remain

Canberra might not be out of the woods just yet, experts warn

SYDNEY - Australian economists collectively gasped two weeks ago when US President Donald Trump announced that Washington would impose a 25 percent tariff on steel products and a 10 percent barrier on aluminum imports.

As an outward-looking trading nation reliant on exports and heavily exposed to overseas risks, the thought that the United States may have fired the first shot in a global trade war was highly alarming for economic observers in Australia.