Latest news with #Australia-UnitedStatesFreeTradeAgreement
Perth Now
a day ago
- Business
- Perth Now
Albo's pointed push to US business leaders
Anthony Albanese will push the benefits of free and fair trade when he speaks to US-based business leaders in Seattle ahead of a highly-anticipated but yet-to-be confirmed meeting with Donald Trump. The Prime Minister arrived in Seattle in the early hours of Saturday morning local time, where he will tour the Amazon headquarters and spruik the tech giant's billions-dollars commitment to expand Australia's data centre network. Mr Albanese is also scheduled to deliver a speech to business leaders at the Technology and Innovation Business Reception on Saturday evening, where he's expected to say that free and fair trade has 'transformed the economies of our region'. The event will be attended by senior representatives from BHP Ventures, quantum computing leader Diraq, Trellis Health, Airwallex and Anthropic, and promote the success and innovation behind the 1100+ Australian companies which have a physical presence in the US. Australia's US Ambassador Kevin Rudd, who was seen in Canberra on Thursday before Mr Albanese departed on his six-day international trip, is also expected to give a short speech. 'Free and fair trade has transformed the economies of our region. And it underpins economic partnership between our two nations, including through the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement, signed twenty years ago,' Mr Albanese is expected to say. 'Today, the United States is Australia's largest foreign investment destination and our largest two-way investment partner. Our task is to build on this strength – and diversify beyond it. Anthony Albanese is visiting the US on his way to Canada for the G7 summit. Photo: NewsWire/ Gaye Gerard Credit: News Corp Australia 'To seek out new sources for growth and investment, particularly in the sectors you represent.' The pointed remarks come as Mr Albanese is facing increased pressure to secure a meeting with Mr Trump on the sidelines of the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Alberta. The pivotal meeting, which will be Mr Albanese's first since Mr Trump was re-elected in November last year, will likely cover whether Australia can broker a tariff exemption, Australia's defence spending which remains short of the 3.5 per cent called on by the US, and more clarity on the future of the AUKUS security defence pact. While AUKUS sceptic and secretary for defence policy Elbridge Colby has been tasked with leading the Pentagon's review into the security pact, Mr Albanese has said the 'very confident' AUKUS remained in the 'interests of all three of our nations, and that it will play an important role in peace, security and stability around the world'. Following the brief US stopover, Mr Albanese will head north to Calgary in Canada, before travelling to Kananskis.
Irish Times
01-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Australia's almost sure-footed Labor PM polling ahead of Liberal rival as election looms
It was a rare stumble in an otherwise sure-footed campaign. On April 3rd, exactly a month before Australians go to the polls in an election on Saturday, the country's Labor prime minister Anthony Albanese fell off a stage while campaigning in New South Wales. Worried about looking weak compared to opposition leader Peter Dutton – a no-nonsense former police officer – Albanese was still denying three weeks later that the incident, clearly caught on camera, was a fall. 'I stepped off the stage, I didn't fall over on my backside. I stumbled. That's what happened... It's no big deal,' he said last week, showing it clearly was a big deal to him. But that misstep has been the only one of note in his re-election campaign, while Dutton's run has been riddled with unforced errors. READ MORE Just seven weeks ago, a newspaper headline said 'Labor's slump puts key seats at risk', and the government seemed on course to become the first in Australia in almost a century to not win a second term. But with voting booths opening on Saturday morning and millions having already voted in pre-polling, Labor now leads in every published poll. In 2024, Australia exported beef valued at Aus$3.3 billion (€1.86 billion) to the US. The 10 per cent tariff now added to those exports is almost certain to see that figure slump this year The election has been overtaken by what former UK prime minister Harold Macmillan called, 'Events, dear boy, events.' The biggest was the tariffs imposed by US president Donald Trump not only on rival nations such as China, but also on friendly countries like Australia. The Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement came into effect in 2005 and the US historically has a trade surplus between the two, but that has not cut any ice with Trump. It is cutting deep with Australian exporters, though, particularly those in the beef trade. In 2024, Australia exported beef valued at Aus$3.3 billion (€1.86 billion) to the US. The 10 per cent tariff now added to those exports is almost certain to see that figure slump this year. Many of the wounds to the Liberal-National coalition, as the opposition alliance is known,have been self-inflicted, though, not least of which was the spectacle of Dutton using his son Harry as a prop to make a point about housing affordability, with Dutton jnr saying 'it's almost impossible' for him to afford to buy a house. Given Harry is just 20 and was standing beside a father who has made $30 million worth of property transactions over the last 35 years, voters did not gush with sympathy. 'Out of touch' – a phrase all politicians dread being tarred with – was the most common response to Dutton. Australian opposition leader Peter Dutton (right) canvasses at an agricultural festival in Carrick, Australia, ahead of a general election on Saturday. Photograph: Dan Peled/Getty Albanese must have breathed a sigh of relief at that as he was accused of the same transgression last October when he and his fiancee Jodie Haydon spent $4.3 million on a beach home with 'uninterrupted ocean views', an hour north of Sydney. The prime minister also owns a house worth $2.65 million in Sydney and sold another for $1.75 million last December. Dutton, whose Liberal Party is Australia's equivalent of the UK's Tories, has spent a great deal of the past month preaching to the converted on the right-wing echo chamber of Sky News – Australia's version of Fox News – and on conservative talkback radio shows whose hosts and listeners tell him how great he is. The Guardian used Dutton's line as a rallying call for donations in an email with a subject line saying it was 'A note from the 'hate media'' He avoids one-on-one interviews in which he might get pushed for some policy clarity, and even took the extraordinary step of saying state broadcaster ABC and the Guardian's Australian edition were 'hate media'. For a man trying to distance himself from the Trump tariffs, echoing the US president's reference to journalists as 'the enemy of the people' was an odd move. The Guardian used Dutton's line as a rallying call for donations in an email with a subject line saying it was 'A note from the 'hate media''. ABC kept quiet, though, fearful of how much its funding might be cut if the coalition wins. ABC has no advertising and there is no TV licence, so it is almost entirely reliant on government subvention. Labor has been helped by the focus on the opposition's lack of policies – it has promised to bring in state-funded nuclear power, but is short on cost details – and Dutton's gaffes, which included accusing Albanese of making a policy announcement 'after a couple of wines'. Though the prime minister is often pictured with a beer in his hand, he has been teetotal during the election campaign. With everything seemingly going his way – including falling inflation and interest rates – Albanese is in danger of engaging in hubris, such as his recent appearance on British podcast The Rest is Politics. There are no votes to be won on a foreign show whose few Australian listeners are already deeply engaged with politics and unlikely to not have already made up their mind which way to vote. If the polls are right, Labor will retain power either in its own right or with the backing of independents. But the polls said Labor would win the 2019 election and on that occasion the Liberal-National coalition upset the odds to emerge victorious. Dutton and the coalition will be hoping history is repeated.
