Australians more anxious about Trump tariffs than China, poll shows
CANBERRA: Australians are more worried about the Trump administration's protectionist trade policies than China's military buildup in the Asia-Pacific region, a new opinion poll showed.
Some 42 per cent of respondents named US tariffs as their top concern compared with 37 per cent who cited the strategic threat from China, according to a Newspoll published Monday (Aug 18) in The Australian. A further 21 per cent said neither bothered them, the survey conducted Aug. 11-14 for the newspaper showed. It had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
While Australia received the minimum 10 per cent levy on its exports to the US, it could still be in the firing line for sectoral tariffs on industries such as pharmaceuticals. More generally, it is heavily exposed to global trade as an export-reliant nation and could also see blowback on import duties from its largest trading partner, China.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese undertook a six-day visit to China last month that included meetings with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing. While there, he focussed heavily on boosting business and trade ties, sidestepping thornier issues around US-China competition, Taiwan and Beijing's military assertiveness.
University-educated voters were more worried about US tariffs than China's military expansion, according to the survey. The results were more evenly split for those without university education, it said
On local politics, Newspoll showed Albanese's Labour Party leading the centre-right coalition 56 to 44 per cent, slightly up on the May 3 election result that delivered Labour 94 seats in the 150-member parliament. The prime minister's net satisfaction rating also turned positive for the first time since September 2023, it showed. - Bloomberg
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