NICOLA SMITH: PM Anthony Albanese’s quiet diplomacy chalks up trade reprieve with Donald Trump on tariffs

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had a spring in his step on Tuesday.

His quiet diplomacy may have won a stay of execution for Australia’s steel and aluminium sectors as the world braces for the guillotine fall of a 25 per cent tariff.

Mr Albanese’s 40-minute phone call with Mr Trump on Tuesday morning was one of the toughest diplomatic tests of his premiership — a high stakes negotiation to protect Australian industry and jobs from the fallout of the punishing levy.

He emerged from the conversation with Mr Trump praising him as a “very fine man” and verbally corroborating his agreement to consider an exemption on the sweeping tariff exclusively for Australia.

For Australian industry it was a welcome first step towards a much-needed reprieve, but the Prime Minister must now steel for a protracted battle if the tentative assurance is to be fleshed out into an actual exclusion.

The seeds of a bargain were, nevertheless, sown on Tuesday.

“We have a surplus with Australia. One of the few. And the reason is they buy a lot of airplanes. They’re rather far away and they need lots of airplanes,” the US President told reporters in Washington an hour after the phone call, as he locked in the global tax with an executive order.

“It’s one of the only countries [with] which we do. And I told him that that’s something that we’ll give great consideration to.”

Mr Albanese was cautious in his own rundown of the call, speaking of a “constructive and warm discussion” but sticking closely to an agreed script that an exemption was “under consideration”.

The result, while no guarantee of future relief, is a sign of the Prime Minister playing to his strengths as an effective, behind-the-scenes negotiator.

The Prime Minister may not be considered a “strongman” leader, but he has made his mark over a long political career as a relationship builder — a trait that has evidenced itself in the repairing of Australia’s frayed ties with China and the release of a string of Australians imprisoned abroad.

Mr Albanese appears to have read the room by playing into Mr Trump’s love of a good business deal, reminding him of the mutually beneficial defence support and critical minerals wealth that Australia brings to the table.

But the US President has also indicated he will not hand Australia special status on a plate.

In a sign of the long road ahead, the presidential proclamation issued just hours after the phone call, accused Australia of breaking its word on curbing aluminium exports to the US, stating the volume of primary US imports had surged.

“Australia has disregarded its verbal commitment to voluntarily restrain its aluminum exports to a reasonable level,” the proclamation stated, without giving details of the promise it was referring to.

The order underscores that Australia has not yet been exempted from the new tariff regime that will come into force on March 12.

Experts have advised Mr Albanese he must show strength and a wily capacity to make the US President an offer he cannot refuse if he wants to close the deal.

“It’s not what they can do for you, it’s what you can do for them. That’s the mindset that we’ve got to have,” advised Arthur Sinodinos, who served as Australian ambassador to the US at the tail-end of the last Trump presidency.

In his own press conference, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton could not resist political digs in the Prime Minister’s direction, but conceded a bipartisan approach was needed in the interests of the country and offered his support.

In the face of tariffs that could wreak havoc on jobs and living standards, it’s time for “Team Australia” to work together for the good of the country.