Australian shares closed flat with a slight positive tilt on Tuesday's close, amid potential new tariffs from President Donald Trump.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index was little changed to close at 8,677.2.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that President Donald Trump may issue additional unilateral tariff letters and finalize more trade deals before Aug. 1, Bloomberg reported.

"The picture is not very clear and yet the market has gone up," Pruksa Iamthongthong, deputy head of APAC equities at Aberdeen Investments, said.

"We got to wait until Aug. 1 and after that a few more quarters to see how does that translate into higher inflation," Iamthongthong added.

On the domestic front, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) decided to hold the cash rate steady at 3.85%, citing a cautiously optimistic inflation outlook alongside ongoing global uncertainties and mixed domestic economic signals, minutes from its July meeting showed.

In corporate news, Insignia Financial (ASX:IFL) has entered into a scheme implementation deed to be acquired by CC Capital Partners for AU$4.80 per share via a scheme of arrangement. Shares of the company rose past 12% at market close.

Shares of Lendlease Group (ASX:LLC) and Mirvac Group (ASX:MGR) were flat at market close after a Monday report by The Australian said that superannuation giant Hostplus has called for the removal of Lendlease as manager of its AU$2 billion industrial property strategy and proposed Mirvac as a replacement.

Lastly, Carnarvon Energy (ASX:CVN) entered a subscription agreement with Strike Energy (ASX:STX), under which Carnarvon will be issued fully-paid ordinary shares in Strike worth up to AU$89 million in a strategic placement, at an issue price of AU$0.12 per share, giving it a stake of up to 19.9% in Strike. Shares of Strike fell 16% at market close.