Jim Chalmers flags action on ‘nuisance tariffs’ in thinly veiled shot at Trump

Jim Chalmers has blasted tariffs as a “tax on the workers and families of the country that levies them” while flagging further action on “nuisance tariffs”.

Nuisance tariffs are import taxes that, while generating some government revenue, are considered inefficient and burdensome.

The Treasurer last year removed some 500 duties on a range of everyday items, including toothbrushes, women’s health products and fridges.

In a thinly veiled shot at Donald Trump, he said on Sunday “there are good reasons to swim against the tide a bit when it comes to tariffs”.

“Some of these nuisance tariffs in our economy risk doing more harm than good, and tariffs are essentially a tax on the workers and families of the country that levies them,” Mr Chalmers told Sky News.

“So we’ve made a heap of progress abolishing 500 nuisance tariffs, working closely with (Trade Minister) Don Farrell and other colleagues to do that.”

He went on to say the Albanese government was “very proud of that progress that we’ve been able to make unilaterally, because tariffs push up compliance costs on business”.

“They risk pushing up prices for workers and families as well,” Mr Chalmers said.

“If I can build consensus and momentum to go further on that, I would like to, but I’ll do that in a way that works closely with Don Farrell, conscious of the negotiations that he has under way.

“But I think we’ve shown a willingness and enthusiasm to cut those nuisance tariffs.

“I would like to go further, if I can. They do often do more harm than good, and so we approach the challenge in that light.”

His comments come as trade talks with the US drag on.

While Australia managed to avoid an increase in US tariffs earlier this month, exports are still subject to blanket 10 per cent levies.

Some sectors, such as steel and aluminium, have rates of up to 50 per cent.

The US President has also threatened to slap imposts of 250 per cent on foreign pharmaceuticals – a move that would hit Australian producers hard.

The Albanese government has repeatedly labelled tariffs “economic self-harm”.

Mr Chalmers did not specify which products he considered slumped with nuisance tariffs, but he did say “there’s hundreds”.

“In those first 500 that we abolished, there were a lot of instances where it costs more actually to levy the tariff than to the benefit that we get from it,” he said.

“So I’m not prepared to put a number on any additional steps that we might be prepared to take, but this has been a pretty constant interest of mine.”