Joe Hockey urges Anthony Albanese to lean into Donald Trump’s ‘transactional’ style as new tariff threat looms

Anthony Albanese has been urged to lean into US President Donald Trump’s “transactional” nature amid concerns the Prime Minister is mishandling Australia’s relationship with America.

Nearly six months have passed since Mr Trump’s inauguration and Mr Albanese is yet to secure an in-person meeting with the US President.

Australian producers have been slugged with tariffs on most exports to the US, including duties of up to 50 per cent on steel and aluminium, and doubts loom large about the Trump administration’s commitment to AUKUS.

The Albanese Government has also made Australia an outlier in the West on defence spending, refusing to budge at all after Washington’s call to hike it to 3.5 per cent amid alarm bells over China’s military build-up.

Commenting on Mr Albanese’s management of the alliance, former ambassador to the US Joe Hockey warned on Friday (AEST) refusing to engage in deal-making with Mr Trump risked offending him.

“If you’re not willing to transact, it’s a snub,” he told Sky News in Washington.

“The fundamental point for the Albanese Government, or the Turnbull or Morrison Government, whoever it is – you have to be prepared to transact.

“It’s a living, breathing relationship. It goes two ways.”

The warning came after Mr Trump threatened further tariffs against Spain for refusing to boost its defence budget in line with other NATO countries.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was the only NATO member leader not to agree to hike military spending to 5 per cent of GDP at this week’s summit.

Mr Trump in turn accused Mr Sánchez of wanting “a free ride” and said Spain would “have to pay it back to us on trade”, playing into critics who argue the Trump Administration’s “America First” agenda is isolationist.

Mr Hockey, a former Coalition treasurer, now runs US-based consultancy Bondi Partners.

He rejected claims Mr Trump was leading the US into an “isolationist phase”.

“They’re involved in Ukraine, they’re involved in the Middle East, they … stopped the war between India and Pakistan, and … tomorrow they’re signing a peace agreement between two warring countries in Africa,” Mr Hockey said.

“If that’s isolationism, then we’ve got a whole new definition.”

Mr Hockey said the Trump Administration offered an opportunity for the West to advance its goals and crucially, for Australia, counter China’s increasing aggression.

“The bottom line is, we should be concerned about our neighbourhood and the aggression of China, of Beijing,” he said.

“It is Beijing, Chinese people are great people, this is Beijing’s aggression that we need to stand up to.

“And now we have an open display of incredible power to be able to deliver on the objectives of the Western world.

“And we should be embracing that, not fearing it, not being worried or afraid to go to the Oval Office or anywhere else.”