In this first dossier edited by the Heatwave media collective, we present a series of short articles by communists from various countries about the local impacts of the second Trump administration's international policies — focusing specifically on the tariffs.

The Australian state is currently caught in a cleft stick, like so many of its Asian neighbours. For us, the intertwined, yet conflicting, economic and political alliances with the US and China comprise the uneasy terrain within which Australia has responded to Trump's recent tariff announcements.