Albanese urged to confront Trump in person after doubling down on tariffs
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has condemned Donald Trump's latest tariff salvo on Australian metals, describing it as reckless as the opposition urged Albanese to confront the US president about the trade strikes during a coming meeting.
On Saturday, Trump said he would double tariffs on steel and aluminium imports to 50 per cent, days after the Court of International Trade found Trump had overstepped his authority to enact a baseline 10 per cent blanket tariff on all types of goods.
The steel and aluminium tariffs were underpinned by a different set of laws to the 10 per cent across-the-board tariff, meaning Australia must secure an exemption to get out of it.
The US eliminated tariffs on British steel and aluminium in a deal with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer in May, creating a precedent for Australia to strike a similar agreement when Albanese and Trump meet for the first time this month. They are expected to meet either on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada or during a trip to the US.
Speaking in Hobart on Sunday, Albanese said the new trade barrier, which will affect about $1 billion worth of Australian metal exports, represented an 'inappropriate action by the Trump Administration'.
'This is an act of economic self-harm by the United States that will increase the cost for consumers in the United States,' he said, echoing the language he used after Trump's Liberation Day tariffs.
'Because it is [applied] across the board, what it will do is not create any comparative advantage or disadvantage for Australia compared with other countries that export into the United States. This is something that will just increase the cost for consumers in the United States.'
Opposition finance spokesman James Paterson said Trump's move was a blow to Australia. He added that he agreed with the comments of Labor ministers on the subject, appearing to break from previous Coalition leader Peter Dutton's tactic of claiming the opposition could secure a better deal from Trump.
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