Nationals call for Australia to buy more US military kit in response to Trump tariffs

A senior Coalition figure wants Australia to give in to Donald Trump’s demands on tariffs and buy even more American military hardware in an effort to placate the US President.

Nationals leader David Littleproud – who would be deputy prime minister if the Coalition wins the May 3 election – said Australia should be better leveraging its long Defence ties with the US in its response to last week’s “Liberation Day” tariffs.

But Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the Coalition’s calls to tie Defence cooperation to the tariffs were reckless and risky.

The US administration’s blanket 10 per cent tariff on Australian goods came into effect on Saturday, along with varying levels of imposts on exports from all other countries.

Mr Littleproud said Australia had a more compelling case now than it did in 2018 for a carve-out.

“We actually did just drop a cheque for $800 million a couple of months ago for the first instalment on those Virginia class submarines,” he told ABC’s Insiders on Sunday.

“It’s about making sure that you can have respect.

“We should be able to leverage the fact that we’ve created this partnership with the United States and UK to keep peace in our region, and that we are going to need the hardware that we don’t have here in Australia.”

Asked whether that meant Australia should be buying more military hardware from the US, Mr Littleproud said the country already was doing that, citing submarines, missiles and the F35 fighter jets that the Coalition has promised to acquire more of.

He disagreed that such a move could be seen as rewarding a bully.

“I think this is about understanding that we’ll give our defence the best they need,” he said.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has also said Australia should be putting its Defence relationship with the US on the negotiating table.

Mr Littleproud also criticised Anthony Albanese for not having been able to speak with Mr Trump since the tariffs were announced.

“A Prime Minister Dutton will make a trip to the United States in his first 60 days to get that put through and to leverage our long-standing relationship, one that’s predicated on respect,” he said.

Mr Albanese has also indicated he intends to make a speedy trip to the US should he be successful after the election.

Senator Wong said the world was in a very different place compared to 2018 when the first Trump administration set up tariffs.

She didn’t believe the Opposition understood how large that change had been.

“They don’t understand the extent to which the second Trump administration is not the same as the first. The second Trump administration regrets exemptions it gave and has not given exemptions to anyone,” she said.

“And yet you still have Peter Dutton and his colleagues, you know, stubbornly insisting that they could do a deal at any cost and recklessly insisting we should play Defence into a trade dispute.”