‘Unprovoked, unfriendly, unjustified’: Anthony Albanese slams Donald Trump’s tariffs decision

The decades-long friendship and partnership between the United States and Australia has suffered a significant blow after President Donald Trump disregarded rational arguments and captured Australia in his blanket tariffs on all steel and aluminium imports.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese denounced the decision as “entirely unjustified” and “not a friendly act” as he ruled out retaliatory tariffs, labelling them an act of “economic self-harm” that punishes consumers.

Mr Albanese said his Government had “mobilised everything at our disposal” and would keep pushing for an exemption.

However he conceded that he had been unable to get the US President on the phone in the days before the imposts came into effect at 3pm AEDT, prompting fury from the Opposition.

The White House had confirmed only about nine hours earlier that no country, including Australia, would be exempt. Ambassador to Washington Kevin Rudd was reportedly told by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick at the same time.

Mr Trump had agreed in a phone call with Mr Albanese last month to give Australia’s case - built on the decades-long trade surplus - “great consideration”, but on Wednesday Trade Minister Don Farrell intimated the administration had strung the Government along and never intended to give Australia an exemption.

In his strongest reprimand of the President since he was sworn in six weeks ago, Mr Albanese said the decision was “harsh” and “unprovoked”.

“This is against the spirit of our two nations’ enduring friendship, and fundamentally at odds with the benefits that our economic partnership has delivered over more than 70 years,” he said, referring to the free trade agreement and lack of tariffs on goods from the US.

He went on to say while all US trading partners were harmed in this decision, in Australia’s case the move failed to respect the nation’s decades-long friendship with the US.

“Australia has a close relationship with the United States. Friends need to act in a way that reinforces, to our respective populations, the fact that we are friends,” he says.

“This is not a friendly act. But it is imposed on every country, that is important.”

Industry Minister Ed Husic went a step further, saying it was a “dog act after over a century of friendship”.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said he was “thoroughly disappointed” with the US decision, and blamed Mr Albanese for Australia’s lack of exemption, saying the PM had put domestic jobs and industry “at risk”.

“This is a bad day for Australia, a bad day because of the decision that our ally in America has made, but even worse, because the Prime Minister is on his knees and can’t even get a phone call or a meeting with the president of the United States, our closest ally,” Mr Dutton said.

The PM last spoke to Mr Trump on February 11, and on Wednesday said he had made requests to speak to the President in the last few days and the Government was continuing to ask.

He said Australia had “put forward a range of propositions to the United States” in good faith, and those discussions are continuing diplomatically.

The Coalition has criticised Mr Albanese for not visiting Washington, with Mr Dutton taking aim at the Prime Minister for being the only Quad leader to not have held a meeting with Mr Trump.

Mr Albanese responded by pointing out that even leaders who had met with Mr Trump face-to-face, like UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron, had been unable to secure an exemption.

Former ambassador to the US Kim Beazley said a visit to Washington would not have made a difference because Mr Trump’s main aim was money, and “we are not relevant” to the American debate.

But Mr Dutton said if the Coalition were elected at the next election, they would “get a deal done” with the Trump administration and mend the “critically broken” relationship.

“I believe we can get a deal done with the Trump administration because we will be a strong government that stands up for our national interests,” he said.

“This Prime Minister is out of his depth, he has no idea what he’s doing when it comes to energy, when it comes to the economy, when it comes to national security, when it comes to keeping Australians safe and when it comes to this relationship, which is now critically broken between the US and Australia because of the prime minister’s incompetence.”

Mr Dutton said the Coalition had been able to negotiate an exception with the first Trump Administration and could do so again this time.

“(We were) able to negotiate an exception largely because we were able to prosecute our argument more effectively than what Anthony Albanese can,” he said.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who said the decision was “not the way to treat a friend and partner” said the hill was always going to be more difficult to climb, in part because of Mr Trump’s Senior Counsellor for Trade and Manufacturing Peter Nevarro.

“What has changed is the position of the Trump Administration, which on this occasion has said exemptions that they gave last time to a number of countries didn’t work. The lesson from that decision for them is that they won’t impose, or they don’t want to give any exemptions this time,” she told Sky News.

“As Peter Navarro has said, ‘we don’t want exemptions, exemptions didn’t work last time’. And that’s why you see a global tariff on all trading partners in relation to steel and aluminium.

Former PM Malcolm Turnbull, who secured Australia’s carve-outs in 2018, had earlier this week queried whether the same arguments he had used back then would work this time around.

“The Trump administration regrets giving exemptions last time because once they gave an exemption to Australia, then they ended up having to give an exemption to somebody else and somebody else,” he told ABC on Tuesday.

Senator Farrell on Wednesday also said he believed the US was never going to grant Australia an exemption.

He said the Government had done everything Mr Dutton said they should have done to get a carve out, but it had been fruitless.

“I don’t believe that there was any intention on the part of the United States government to give us an exemption,” he told Sky News.

“We did all of the things that Mr Dutton claimed he would have done ... if it was Mr Dutton and his team that was doing this negotiation … (would the result) have been any different, particularly in light of some of the events that occurred earlier this week?

“The answer ... I think is a comprehensive no.”

Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief Andrew McKellar also said he didn’t believe the Government could have done any more.

“We’ve seen strong engagement from them, from the top down, from the Prime Minister down. The Prime Minister spoke directly to the President. We’ve had senior ministers in Washington, we know the embassy, the Ambassador, Ambassador Rudd has been working overtime on this, and there’s been very extensive communication with business all the way along.”

He also urged the Government to consider potential safeguards including anti-dumping measures to shield companies from the indirect impact of the tariffs decision.

Meanwhile, Mr Albanese and Senator Wong both stepped through the direct impact tariffs would have on American consumers, as they ruled out retaliating with imposts on US imports.

“Such a course of action would only push up prices for Australian consumers and increase inflation,” Mr Albanese said.

Although the tariffs are now in effect, the Albanese Government says they will not give up the fight to gain an exemption.

“We will continue to engage constructively with the United States and to make the case for Australian trade and the benefits that it gives to people in the United States of America,” Mr Albanese said.

“Around the world and here at home our Government will always stand up for Australian jobs and Australian industries.”

The Government is also alive to the potential of future rounds of tariffs, including on pharmaceutical and agricultural products which could prove more damaging to Australia.

Shane Oliver, chief economist at AMP, said that would be a “much bigger risk”.

Asked if he feared further tariffs, Mr Albanese said he would “continue to advocate for Australia’s national interest”

“President Trump has been elected. He is putting forward these proposals. I make the point that Australia has products that are in demand around the world,” he said.

“We get through these issues just as we did – got through other issues in the past. But Australia has resources that are in demand. And we’ll continue to engage constructively with the United States.”