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Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.

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Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, July nine, twenty twenty five. The church where

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Speaker 1: Mushroom Lunch survivor Ian Wilkinson preachers thanked the Gippsland community

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Speaker 1: for its support on Tuesday. That's after Aaron Patterson was

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Speaker 1: convicted of murdering Wilkinson's wife and two other elderly relatives.

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Speaker 1: You can read all the latest on the mushroom trial

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Speaker 1: guilty verdict right now at the Australian dot com dou

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Speaker 1: The Albanesi government is working up a new strategy to

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Speaker 1: deal with antisemitism. The government's envoy, Gillian Siegel, will present

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Speaker 1: a set of proposals to the government after a Melbourne

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Speaker 1: synagogue and restaurant were attacked over the weekend. Donald Trump

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Speaker 1: deserves the Nobel Peace Prize, says Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin

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Speaker 1: Netta Yahoo. That's after the two leaders met in Washington,

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Speaker 1: DC to discuss peace in the Middle East. Donald Trump

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Speaker 1: reignited the tariff war by slapping higher rates on Japan

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Speaker 1: and South Korea and warning other states they may face

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Speaker 1: hikes to today what the Bibbi Donald Alliance means for

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Speaker 1: the region and the rest of the world. Joe Kelly

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Speaker 1: is the Australian's correspondent in Washington, DC. Joe, we knew

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Speaker 1: Benjamin Etna who was coming to the White House. We

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Speaker 1: knew there'd be a meeting, and we wondered if there'd

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Speaker 1: be some sort of oval office glad handing or confrontation.

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Speaker 1: Actually what emerged was a dinner that turned into a

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Speaker 1: press conference.

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Speaker 2: Sadana to have me, me and Sarah with us, friends

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Speaker 2: of mine for a long time.

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Speaker 1: And it was quite a bizarre scene, wasn't it.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, Claire, I think it's typical Trump. But this was

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Speaker 3: different from the visits of other leaders. So there were

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Speaker 3: questions that Carolyn Levitt took at the White House press

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Speaker 3: briefing earlier about why this was a closed meeting. Usually

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Speaker 3: we see Donald Trump parading these foreign leaders before the

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Speaker 3: media cameras and the world's media in these oval office

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Speaker 3: performances that didn't happen today. There was a dinner, as

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Speaker 3: you say, where even Donald Trump at times is relaying

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Speaker 3: questions that are directed to him by journalists to the

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Speaker 3: Israeli Prime Minister and asking him what he thinks, almost

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Speaker 3: as if he's testing or trying to gauge what Benjamin Nettner,

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Speaker 3: who thinks about certain things.

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Speaker 4: It's another example.

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Speaker 3: Of what life is like in the court of Donald Trump.

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Speaker 4: It's really nice of you at the wet House. It's

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Speaker 4: nothing like the wet House.

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Speaker 2: And it's great to have you both than all of you.

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Speaker 1: One of the new things we learned today is that

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Speaker 1: Benjamin Etna who thinks Donald Trump should win the Nobel

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Speaker 1: Peace Prize.

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Speaker 2: Your leadership of the free world, your leadership of adjust cause,

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Speaker 2: and the pursuit of peace and security in which you

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Speaker 2: are leading in many lands, but now especially in the

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Speaker 2: Middle East. So I want to present to you, mister President,

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Speaker 2: the letter I sent to the Nobel Prize Committee. It's

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Speaker 2: nominating you for the Peace Prize, which is well deserved

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Speaker 2: and you should get it.

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Speaker 1: You got the sense Donald Trump quite likes this idea

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Speaker 1: of himself as the global peacemaker.

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Speaker 4: Thank you very much. This I didn't know. Well, Thank

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Speaker 4: you very much. Oh, there's no doubt about that.

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Speaker 3: He's had varying degrees of success on that front. And

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Speaker 3: the most glaring problem, obviously is that the conflict in

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Speaker 3: Eastern Europe is still ongoing.

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Speaker 4: I'm stopping Morris.

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Speaker 2: I'm stopping Morris, and I hate to see people killed.

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Speaker 4: As an example, in Ukraine and Rush and Ava can

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Speaker 4: stop a war now because they have an ability to.

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Speaker 2: So I'm disappointed frankly that President Buten hasn't stopped.

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Speaker 4: I'm not happy about it either.

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Speaker 3: But he can see in roads that he's made in

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Speaker 3: the Middle East. So this is his big opportunity to

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Speaker 3: fulfill this legacy, in this benchmark that he set for

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Speaker 3: himself as a peacemaker. And no doubt he feels there's

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Speaker 3: a sense of momentum now, a strategic opening following the

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Speaker 3: successful US strikes on the Iranian nuclear enrichment sites on

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Speaker 3: which he wants to build a broader regional peace, and

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Speaker 3: to do that he needs to get Benjamin.

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Speaker 4: Netanyahu on board. So this is what this whole trip

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Speaker 4: is all about.

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Speaker 1: There was a point when Trump was asked if he

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Speaker 1: thought there was a two state solution for Israel and

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Speaker 1: the Palestinians. He really deflected that question off to Benjamin Nina, who.

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Speaker 4: I don't know. I asked, maybe that question.

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Speaker 2: You have the greatest man in the world to answer

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Speaker 2: that age old question to state, go ahead, you give

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Speaker 2: him your understands I think Powerstinians should have all the

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Speaker 2: powers to govern themselves, but none of the powers to

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Speaker 2: threaten us. That means that certain powers like overall security

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Speaker 2: will always remain in our hands. Now that is a fact,

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Speaker 2: and I think we can work out a piece between

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Speaker 2: US and the entire Middle East. With President Trump's leadership

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Speaker 2: and by working together, I think we can establish a

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Speaker 2: very very broad piece that will include all our neighbors.

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Speaker 3: What did do.

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Speaker 1: You interpret was going on there, Joe? Do you think

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Speaker 1: the President just still thinks it should be the riviera

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Speaker 1: of the Middle East and doesn't have a firm.

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Speaker 2: View about that, But the riviera of the Middle East,

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Speaker 2: this could be something that could be so magnificent.

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Speaker 4: We'll make sure that it's world class.

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Speaker 1: Is this showmanship? In some way?

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Speaker 3: I think it was sort of the typical Trump theatrics,

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Speaker 3: But I also think it's a reflection of Trump's transactional

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Speaker 3: nature and pragmatism. He wants to do a deal, and

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Speaker 3: he'll take the best deal that he thinks he can get,

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Speaker 3: and he recognizes that Israel is now in a.

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Speaker 4: Very strong position.

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Speaker 3: I think Donald Trump was actually interested in Benjamin Nettner,

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Speaker 3: whose views Benjamin Netna who will be persuading and putting

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Speaker 3: this point of view very clearly and very firmly to

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Speaker 3: the Trump administration.

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Speaker 4: He wants a mus to.

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Speaker 3: Surrender, for it to disarm, and for the remaining leaders

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Speaker 3: to be exiled, and for Israel to take over security

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Speaker 3: control of the Gaza Strip.

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Speaker 2: After October seventh, people said, the Palestinians autistate guys. I

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Speaker 2: look what they did with it. They didn't build it up.

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Speaker 2: They built down into bunkers, into terror tunnels, after which

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Speaker 2: they massacred our people, raped our women, beheaded our men,

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Speaker 2: and debated our our cities and our towns and our

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Speaker 2: keep see them, and did horrendous, horrendous massacres the kind

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Speaker 2: of which we didn't see since World War II in

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Speaker 2: the Nazis, the Holocaust. So people aren't likely to say,

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Speaker 2: let's just give them another state and it'll be a

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Speaker 2: platform to destroy Israel. We'll work out a piece with

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Speaker 2: our Palestinian neighbors, those who don't want to destroy us,

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Speaker 2: and we'll work out a piece in which our security,

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Speaker 2: the sovereign power of security, always remains in our hands.

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Speaker 2: Now people were saying, it's not a complete state, it's

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Speaker 2: not a state. It's not that we don't care. We

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Speaker 2: vowed never again, never again, is now It's not gonna

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Speaker 2: happen again.

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Speaker 1: These are both very flamboyant politicians. They look very different.

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Speaker 1: Donald Trump looked particularly orange, I thought at this meeting,

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Speaker 1: and Benjamin Netanya, who looked particularly pale and perhaps not

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Speaker 1: very well. But they've got something in common, which is

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Speaker 1: they both believe that their political opponents have trumped up

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Speaker 1: charges against them. In Nenya, whose case he's been facing

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Speaker 1: for more than five years now, accusations of fraud and

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Speaker 1: corruption for accepting gifts from and giving favors to businessmen

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Speaker 1: including James Packer. Packer has not been accused of any wrongdoing.

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Speaker 1: By the way, do you think that's part of the

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Speaker 1: kind of fellow feeling between these guys and where a

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Speaker 1: deal might come from Joe, that they both feel they're

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Speaker 1: kind of victims of a liberal deep state.

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Speaker 3: Well, I think personal chemistry and rapport is important in

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Speaker 3: striking deals. Clearly, personal relationships are important to Donald Trump.

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Speaker 4: I think he likes winners. That's very important to him.

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Speaker 3: He likes people who project strength, and I think he

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Speaker 3: likes people who persevere and go on to succeed despite

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Speaker 3: the odds being set against them in a way, he

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Speaker 3: sees that as his own story. But I also think

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Speaker 3: this is a tricky relationship. So, for example, Donald Trump

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Speaker 3: got pretty angry after he'd announced the ceasefire between Israel

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Speaker 3: and Iran and basically ordered Benjamin nettna who to turn

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Speaker 3: around his jets so the ceasefire agreement would hold. And

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Speaker 3: you know, he could claim this was the twelve day

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Speaker 3: War and he could live up to this legacy of

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Speaker 3: him as the peacemaker and so on. And he was

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Speaker 3: very angry that day. He probably recall that he swore

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Speaker 3: in front of the assembled media as he was leaving

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Speaker 3: the White House.

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Speaker 1: We basically have two countries that have been fighting so

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Speaker 1: long and so hard that they don't know what the

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Speaker 1: fuck they're doing.

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Speaker 2: Do you understand that?

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Speaker 3: But I think they don't entirely. I don't think they

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Speaker 3: entirely trust one another. I mean Benjamin Netanya, who he

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Speaker 3: took this audacious action in engaging around directly calculating that

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Speaker 3: the US would come in at the end. And then

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Speaker 3: Donald Trump was concerned that Israel wouldn't uphold the ceasefire.

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Speaker 3: So there's still brinksmanship and gamesmanship going on between both

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Speaker 3: of these leaders. So it's a complex and fascinating relationship

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Speaker 3: that is clearly fundamental to this reshaping of the Middle

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Speaker 3: East strategic outlook which we are.

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Speaker 1: Seeing coming up. And then Trump restarted the tariff. What

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Speaker 1: that means for Australia. Donald Trump wants to end real

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Speaker 1: shooting wars, he says, but he's happy to have a

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Speaker 1: trade war. And he's fired up the trade war again,

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Speaker 1: sending letters to a bunch of countries and hitting Japan

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Speaker 1: and South Korea with tariff rates of twenty five percent.

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Speaker 1: Where does Australia fit into that now, Joe, and how

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Speaker 1: concerned should we be about this new phase of that

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Speaker 1: particular war.

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Speaker 3: Australia has the ten percent general tariff, so it's not

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Speaker 3: hit by the reciprocal tariffs, which was subject to the

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Speaker 3: ninety day pause. Now, what Donald Trump has done is

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Speaker 3: he's effectively extended that ninety day pause until August one.

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Speaker 3: But again, in Trump like fashion, he's projecting strength, writing,

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Speaker 3: you know, to all these countries that did have the

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Speaker 3: reciprocal tariff, effectively threatening them with a much higher tariff rate.

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Speaker 3: The expectation in the White House is that Australia will

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Speaker 3: remain unaffected. The ten percent tariff will simply remain in place. However,

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Speaker 3: I was at the White House earlier today and it's

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Speaker 3: their expectation. While Australia the ten percent rate will remain.

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Speaker 3: Anything can happen. The President could decide to put a

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Speaker 3: higher tariff right on Australia if he thought there was

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Speaker 3: a good reason for it.

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Speaker 1: Joe Kelly is The Australian's correspondent in Washington DC. You

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Speaker 1: can check out all Joe's reporting and all the best

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Speaker 1: in world news anytime by joining our subscribers at the

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Speaker 1: Australian dot com dot au