‘We’re obviously concerned’: Albanese Government seeks urgent talks after Trump’s tariff move

Australia is in a strong position to deal with the economic fallout of US President Donald Trump’s steep 25 per cent trade tariffs on Canadian and Mexican products and 10 per cent on goods from China, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Monday.

The Albanese Government has stepped up measures to reassure the business community after the tariffs were announced at the weekend, with Trade Minister Don Farrell seeking talks “as soon as is humanly possible” with his US counterpart, according to the AFR.

Senator Farrell’s US counterpart, Howard Lutnick, has reportedly agreed to talk but cannot do so in an official capacity until his confirmation hearings are over.

A Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson said the government was engaging with the Trump Administration in order to continue the current free trade agreement.

“President Trump has publicly expressed concern about trade deficits with trading partners. The United States has had an unbroken trade surplus with Australia since 1952,” the spokesperson said.“Australia is a trading nation, and we will always continue to advocate for free and fair trade.”

The move by the Trump administration has sparked global alarm about an escalating trade war with far-reaching economic implications.

Canada has already announced retaliatory tariffs against its neighbour and China has pledged to take unspecified “countermeasures” against the levies and is planning to challenge the tariff at the World Trade Organisation.

“We are obviously concerned about this development,” said Employment Minister Murray Watt about the US announcement.

“Given that Australia is a trading nation, there’s about one in four Australian jobs that depend on trade, and we have a very strong trade relationship with the US that we want to see remain intact,” he told ABC Breakfast News.

There have been no signals so far that the US is likely to impose tariffs on Australia, and the Government does not believe that Washington is poised to do so.

“One of the key points that we’ve made is that not only do we have a free trade agreement between our two countries, but the US has had an unbroken trade surplus with Australia back to the 1950s,” said Mr Watt.

“We know we’ve seen that President Trump for some time has been talking about taking action against countries with whom the US has a trade deficit. It’s actually the reverse here, the US supplies more goods and services to Australia than we supply to the US.”

Senator Wong, also made this argument to the Trump administration when she met with her US counterpart Marco Rubio on the day after Mr Trump’s inauguration in Washington.

“President Trump is implementing the agenda he said he would . . . obviously that’s going to affect global markets,” she told reporters in Canberra on Monday.

“We understand that and we also understand that we best approach this by our close engagement with the United States.”

“The US has a two-to-one trade surplus with Australia and every good and service from the US comes into our country free of tariffs.”