PM set to raise ‘unjustified’ tariffs with US President Donald Trump
Updated . First published at
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he will ask US President Donald Trump why Australia has been slapped with fresh tariffs.
Australia was one of 60 nations that Trump says will be hit with new import tariffs of up to 12.5 per cent, amid claims the country is not doing enough to stamp out slave labour in supply chains.
Anthony Albanese insisted the tariffs had no justification. Dominic Lorrimer
Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell has already panned the move, which was echoed by Albanese in a television interview on Sunday.
When he was asked on ABC’s Insiders whether he would raise the issue of the new tariffs with Trump, he responded: “Absolutely”.
“These are unjustified,” he said.
“We’ll raise it at every level of the Australia-US relationship. We’ve already done so.
“Tariffs are a penalty on consumers; the country that imposes [them] will lead to higher costs in the United States and undermine the trading relationship that we have with our US friends”
Australia, like the rest of the world, is feeling the impact of Trump’s continuing war with Iran in the Middle East, which has caused economic uncertainty and the price of oil to rise.
Albanese insisted Australia continued to work “constructively” with the Trump administration. AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein
The federal government has enacted a cut to the fuel excise to make petrol cheaper, but this is set to expire on August 1.
The cut to the excise has already been extended once, but Albanese ruled out doing the same again, despite no signs the war will end anytime soon.
Albanese claimed a continuation of the fuel excise cut was not in “Labor’s planning at this point in time,” citing Australia’s strong supply of oil and the fact petrol usage was falling.
“We live in really turbulent times, but [petrol] usage is coming down,” he claimed.
“Obviously … the longer [the war] goes, the bigger the conflict, the bigger the impact will be.”
“This is a war on the other side of the world. We are not protagonists in it, but we are impacted by it.
“We’ve consistently called for a de-escalation, and we’ll continue to do so.”
He claimed his relationship with President Trump was still solid despite the tariffs and the continuation of the Middle East conflict.
“We deal with Trump constructively,” he said.
“[We’ll] continue to do that.”
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