Play stupid games, win stupid prizes: Albanese’s Trump tariff ‘test’ is a minor play in a bigger contest

Jim Chalmers late last year lauded Canada’s former finance minister Chrystia Freeland as a “great friend to me”. The treasurer described the 56-year-old former journalist running to become Canada’s next prime minister as “an absolute legend” who cooperated with Australia on “the global economic stage”. Two months on, quite a bit has changed. Donald Trump is back in the White House. Like Canada, Australia is headed for its own showdown with political destiny in coming weeks. Which is why Freeland’s approach to Trump’s tariff bluster offers a fascinating counterpoint to Anthony Albanese’s softly-softly, hope-he-doesn’t-bite management of the president’s full frontal…