AUD/USD trades lower above 0.6200 as Trump imposes additional tariffs on China
- AUD/USD falls slightly but holds the key support of 0.6200.
- The Aussie Dollar faces pressure as US President Trump imposes additional 10% tariffs on China.
- Escalating Fed dovish bets have weighed on the US Dollar.
The AUD/USD pair is down 0.1% to near 0.6220 in European trading hours on Tuesday. The Aussie pair trades lower even though the US Dollar (USD) extends its downside, suggesting significant weakness in the Australian Dollar (AUD).
The US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the Greenback’s value against six major currencies, revisits the 11-week low of 106.15.
The Australian Dollar faces strong selling pressure as United States (US) President Donald Trump has announced additional 10% tariffs on China. Trump also slapped 10% levy on China in early February. Higher tariffs on Chinese products would diminish their competitiveness in the global market. Such a scenario could be unfavorable for the Aussie Dollar as it is the leading trading partner of China.
Australian Dollar PRICE Today
The table below shows the percentage change of Australian Dollar (AUD) against listed major currencies today. Australian Dollar was the strongest against the US Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | -0.22% | -0.08% | -0.39% | -0.47% | 0.00% | -0.15% | -0.53% | |
| EUR | 0.22% | 0.15% | -0.16% | -0.24% | 0.23% | 0.08% | -0.32% | |
| GBP | 0.08% | -0.15% | -0.30% | -0.40% | 0.08% | -0.08% | -0.46% | |
| JPY | 0.39% | 0.16% | 0.30% | -0.09% | 0.39% | 0.23% | -0.15% | |
| CAD | 0.47% | 0.24% | 0.40% | 0.09% | 0.47% | 0.33% | -0.07% | |
| AUD | -0.01% | -0.23% | -0.08% | -0.39% | -0.47% | -0.15% | -0.55% | |
| NZD | 0.15% | -0.08% | 0.08% | -0.23% | -0.33% | 0.15% | -0.39% | |
| CHF | 0.53% | 0.32% | 0.46% | 0.15% | 0.07% | 0.55% | 0.39% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the Australian Dollar from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the US Dollar, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent AUD (base)/USD (quote).
On the domestic front, an expected increase in Australian Retail Sales could offer some cushion to the antipodean. The Retail Sales data, a key measure of consumer spending, rose by 0.3% in January on month after declining by 0.1% in December.
Meanwhile, the US Dollar faces pressure on mounting bets that the Federal Reserve (Fed) could resume the monetary expansion cycle in the June policy meeting. The likelihood for the Fed to reduce interest rates in June has increased to 87% from 69% recorded a week ago, according to the CME FedWatch tool.
US-China Trade War FAQs
Generally speaking, a trade war is an economic conflict between two or more countries due to extreme protectionism on one end. It implies the creation of trade barriers, such as tariffs, which result in counter-barriers, escalating import costs, and hence the cost of living.
An economic conflict between the United States (US) and China began early in 2018, when President Donald Trump set trade barriers on China, claiming unfair commercial practices and intellectual property theft from the Asian giant. China took retaliatory action, imposing tariffs on multiple US goods, such as automobiles and soybeans. Tensions escalated until the two countries signed the US-China Phase One trade deal in January 2020. The agreement required structural reforms and other changes to China’s economic and trade regime and pretended to restore stability and trust between the two nations. However, the Coronavirus pandemic took the focus out of the conflict. Yet, it is worth mentioning that President Joe Biden, who took office after Trump, kept tariffs in place and even added some additional levies.
The return of Donald Trump to the White House as the 47th US President has sparked a fresh wave of tensions between the two countries. During the 2024 election campaign, Trump pledged to impose 60% tariffs on China once he returned to office, which he did on January 20, 2025. With Trump back, the US-China trade war is meant to resume where it was left, with tit-for-tat policies affecting the global economic landscape amid disruptions in global supply chains, resulting in a reduction in spending, particularly investment, and directly feeding into the Consumer Price Index inflation.
Author
Sagar Dua
FXStreet
Sagar Dua is associated with the financial markets from his college days. Along with pursuing post-graduation in Commerce in 2014, he started his markets training with chart analysis.
