Trump's Trade Wars Help Australia's Center-Left Party Win National Election (A Repeat of Canada!)

First, it was Canada; now, it's Australian voters delivering a sharp rebuke to President Donald Trump's assertions that he's a "world leader."

The center-left Labor Party in the country from "down under" has retained control of the government, winning the parliamentary elections on Saturday — a dramatic turnaround, given that the conservative coalition was previously projected to win.

The rosy outlook for conservatives flipped after the tariffs imposed by Trump on the country — initially at 25 percent, then down to the (as for now) 10 percent rate — shifted public sentiment away from the conservative coalition and back toward Labor.

It's a near-identical outcome to what happened in Canada last month.

From The Washington Post:

With roughly half of the votes counted, Labor appeared on track to increase its majority in the lower chamber of Parliament from 78 seats to at least 87, with more than a dozen races yet to be called.

In a shock that appeared to underscore Trump’s impact, one of the seats Labor picked up was [conservative coalition leader Peter] Dutton’s.

Trump frequently touts himself as an international leader who is widely respected by the rest of the globe (he recently stated that he, in fact, "run[s] the country and the world"). But voters in several countries are rejecting his global leadership style, choosing instead to elect officials who will stand up against him.

Given Trump's huge drop in domestic polling since being sworn in, voters in the U.S. are currently on a path to do the same, in special elections this year and next, and in the 2026 midterms, choosing new leaders who will stop his draconian (and anti-democratic) actions in the Oval Office.

Image source: Australian flag, public domain; image of Trump by Gage Skidmore/Flickr (altered)