LIVE: Election 2025 – The big question Albo’s right hand man refuses to answer about Australia’s response to Trump’s tariffs

Despite being asked twice, Defence Minister Richard Marles refused to directly address whether the Prime Minister had requested a call with Donald Trump since the US President imposed his tariffs.

‘We continue to advocate to the US through our system and through our representatives,’ Mr Marles told ABC’s Radio National.

‘Right now, the prime minister, as he should be, is very focused on the federal election and the conversation that he’s having and that we’re all having with the Australian people.’

It comes as the White House has claimed that dozens of countries tried to negotiate the new tariff regime.

Or, as Trump has put it, they are ‘lining up to kiss his ass’.

The US President sensationally walked back his decision on Wednesday US time, imposing a 90-day pause because markets were ‘getting yippie’ about it.

‘I thought that people were jumping a little bit out of line. They were getting yippie, you know, getting a little bit yippie, a little bit afraid,’ he said at the White House during an event honoring car racing champions.

‘The yips’ is a term used in golf to describe a sudden collapse in form.

Read more about what Trump’s reverse-ferret means for Australia here: