EDITORIAL: Anthony Albanese must not surrender on US tariff demands

Anthony Albanese won’t like to admit it, but he has a lot in common with Donald Trump.

Both men are on a mission to revitalise their nation’s ailing manufacturing industries.

Both blame the policies of previous administrations for the demise of those industries.

Mr Trump wants to “Make America Great Again”, while Mr Albanese is focused on a “Future Made in Australia”.

And both are willing to use interventionist strategies to try to realise their goals.

In Mr Albanese’s case, that’s through the billions poured into subsidies for advanced manufacturing and clean energy projects which would be otherwise unsustainable.

And in Mr Trump’s, it’s his sweeping “Liberation Day” tariffs, applied on absolutely everything imported into the US.

The unlikely pair are in furious agreement about the need to shore up their nations’ self-sufficiency and develop their domestic industries.

So why is it that Mr Albanese appears so flummoxed by Mr Trump?

The Prime Minister appears to have taken a fatalistic view of Mr Trump’s tsunami of levies.

Labor points out that the tariffs were applied to every nation, even on uninhabited islands off the Antarctic.

The implication is that these tariffs were inevitable, so what would be the point in wasting one’s breath fighting for an exemption that was never going to happen?

It’s an appalling approach to diplomacy.

We get it, Trump is a difficult character. He has a reputation for unpredictability (though on this issue, all he has done is precisely what he has promised to do all the way along). He has an immunity to the commonsense arguments that would cut through with more conventional leaders.

None of this means that it’s acceptable for Australia to wave the white flag in surrender.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has taken a more bellicose tack, saying he wouldn’t hesitate to take the fight to Mr Trump, or any other leader who would act against our national interest.

That “aggro” response hasn’t played particularly well for him.

However, he is right about one thing: it is indeed a “significant failing” that Mr Albanese appears unable to get the US President on the phone.

The relationship between Australia and the US is a unique one.

Other Western nations have longstanding alliances with the US. But all of those relationships — Canada, France, the UK — are also coloured rivalry for geopolitical influence and economic supremacy.

That’s not a factor between the US and Australia.

We stand alone as the US’s most faithful friend. We’ve been there through every conflict of the past century. We welcome their troops to our shores and work hand in glove on intelligence-gathering.

That should give us some leverage with the White House, regardless of the president in residence.

Mr Albanese says he will do what is necessary to stand up for Australian interests.

At the moment, his actions don’t appear to match up to that rhetoric.