Anthony Albanese says the US tariffs are not a friendly act. Photo: ABC News: Brendan Esposito
By ABC political reporter Jake Evans and ABC foreign affairs reporter Stephen Dziedzic
- Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the US has committed "economic self-harm" by continuing with tariffs on Australia
- Albanese says the tariffs on steel and aluminium are "not a friendly act"
- The tariffs will take effect this afternoon
Australia's prime minister has lashed "entirely unjustified" US tariffs being imposed on Australian steel and aluminium, saying it is a poor way for the United States to treat a friend.
The White House has confirmed it won't grant Australia or any other nation an exemption from tariffs imposed from today, part of US President Donald Trump's designs to bring more manufacturing to the United States.
A 25 percent tariff on Australian steel and aluminium will begin from later today.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed Australia would not retaliate with tariffs of its own, but said the US president's tariffs were an act of "economic self-harm".
"Australia has a close relationship with the United States. Friends need to act in a way that reinforces, to our respective populations, the fact that we are friends," Albanese said.
"This is not a friendly act. But it is imposed on every country, that is important."
Shortly before, Foreign Minister Penny Wong warned ordinary Americans would feel the pain of the "unprovoked and unjustified" tariffs.
Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
"Guess who will pay the price of this? It's actually Americans, American consumers. These tariffs will harm the ordinary American and the American economy," she told Sky News.
"[It is] not the way to treat a friend and partner".
Senator Wong added for the same reason she believed tariffs would not be good for US consumers, retaliatory tariffs would "add to Australians' cost of living".
Albanese said the government did not believe the matter was final, noting it took many months during the previous Trump administration for Australia to secure exemptions on that occasion.
But he said today's refusal was harmful.
"This is against the spirit of our two nations' enduring friendship and fundamentally at odds with the benefit of our economic partnership that has delivered over more than 70 years," the prime minister said.
However, he noted that Australian steel and aluminium exports to the US made up only 0.2 percent of the total value of Australia's exports, while flagging there would be further support for the industry in the coming federal budget through the government's "Buy Australian" campaign.
Coalition blames Albanese government - though no nation has won an exemption
This Trump administration has hardened in its view on tariffs compared to the last, when several exemptions were granted including to Australia.
Initial hope that repeat exemptions could be granted has faded in recent days, as their start date neared.
Earlier this week former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, who helped to secure the previous tariff exemption, expressed his doubt that another would be granted or that the Albanese government could be blamed for failing to secure one.
Senator Wong said the US president's advisors, like trade adviser Peter Navarro, had made it clear Australia was unlikely to win another exemption, and they had made it clear "at this stage there will be no exemptions".
While other global leaders including UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer have travelled to meet with Trump, those nations also failed to secure exemptions from what the senator described as "global tariffs".
But the Coalition has turned up its attack in the wake of the Trump administration's refusal.
For months the opposition has warned the government must do all it can to secure an exemption, while also openly questioning whether Australia's ambassador, Kevin Rudd, could secure one given the US president's previously dim view of him.
Kevin Rudd. Photo: AFP / Alex Wong
On Wednesday morning Liberal deputy leader Sussan Ley told Sky News there was more the government could have done, including arranging in person meetings between Albanese and President Trump and between Trade Minister Don Farrell and his US counterpart Howard Lutnick.
"One thing we do know that the Trump administration is that it's about personal relationships. It's about building the personal networks and the communication one on one and that's what Anthony Albanese he has clearly not done," Ley said.
"It's been two months and still no visit."
Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume told Channel 7 she had urged the prime minister to call Trump.
"I'm not saying this with my Coalition hat on, I'm not talking about things that have gone wrong. For the sake of your children, my children, the prosperity of the nation in the future, this is the time to pick up the phone and do something. The prime minister has failed to do that," Senator Hume said.
Senator Wong said the government had engaged at every level, including in two calls between Albanese and Trump.
Wong also defended Rudd's work on the issue as "outstanding".
"Mr Dutton and his lieutenants are very quick to get out a political attack, they're very slow to stand up for Australian jobs and Australian workers," she said.
- ABC
