Australia news LIVE: Trump rules out Australian exemption for steel and aluminium tariffs; Ukraine ready to accept ceasefire deal

After White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told this masthead that Donald Trump had decided against a tariff exemption for Australian steel and aluminium, Housing Minister Clare O’Neil says it’s not a done deal yet.

Speaking to Seven’s Sunrise, O’Neil said Australia was “still in discussion with the US government about this”.

“So I’m not going to accept this as the situation yet. We still have a little bit of time and lots of discussions continuing to happen.”

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O’Neil insisted that whether the tariffs go ahead or not, “we have a very strong and very resilient economy here in Australia”.

“We have a never-say-die approach to these things. We’re still continuing those negotiations and discussions. That will continue till the very last moment,” she said.

The tariffs are set to begin on Wednesday in the US, from around 3pm Wednesday AEDT.

“Our government has done absolutely everything possible to try to get us in the best situation,” O’Neil continued, describing it as a “new context” given no nation had been given tariff exemptions in Trump’s second administration.

For more on Leavitt’s comments revealing Trump’s decision, head here.