Labor pushes Aussie-made plan following Trump tariffs
Tariffs imposed by the US have upended the federal election campaign, with the Prime Minister spruiking local products in response.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is looking to bolster Australian-made products in response to tariffs from Donald Trump.
The US president inserted himself into the election campaign after announcing a sweeping round of tariffs as part of his so-called “Liberation Day” on Thursday morning, Australian time, including reciprocal duties on all countries.
A tariff of 10 per cent is the minimum the United States will impose. It is arguably a better outcome than Australia had expected given an outright exemption was looking very unlikely, and many countries got hit with far higher rates.
The Prime Minister was quick to respond to the tariff announcement, saying the measures “have no basis in logic” and were not the actions of a friendly nation.
Albanese reinforced calls for consumers to buy Australian products following the tariffs, looking to leverage a local-made campaign.
“We will promote buying Australian is one way that we can respond. We can be proud of our products,” he told reporters in Melbourne.
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“We can’t control what the US administration determines, but we can engage with them. This is a decision that they have made. It’s one which we think importantly, is not in the interests of the United States.
“We will respond, and I want Australians to respond this way as well, in a careful, calibrated, mature way.”
Albanese flagged Australia would not compromise on its biosecurity arrangements or pharmaceutical deals in exchange for reduced tariffs.
“We don’t want our health system to be more American. We only want it to be more Australian,” he said.
Anthony Albanese dined with Greg Norman ahead of the Trump tariffs.
It comes as Albanese met with Australian golfing great Greg Norman, who is in the orbit of Mr Trump, on Wednesday night in Melbourne.
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“We are using every asset at our disposal: ministers, people in departments, our embassy in Washington DC, our business community links and our other links as well to advance Australia’s national interests,” he said.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said while there was a bipartisan view the tariffs were unacceptable, Albanese was not the right person to be at the negotiating table.
“What we need to be able to do is to sit down with the administration and negotiate hard on our country’s behalf. And … part of the problem is that the Prime Minister hasn’t been able to get a phone call (with the White House),” he told Sydney radio station 2GB.
“That has been the significant failing, and we need to be strong and to stand up for our country’s interests, and … at the moment the Prime Minister’s sort of flailing about as to what to do and how to respond.
“We need to have a position here in Australia which is going to be taken seriously by the president and by the Americans.”
Australian National University politics lecturer Jill Sheppard said tariffs offered pitfalls for both leaders on the campaign trail.
“It’s a zero-sum game,” she told AAP.
“Anytime the major parties talk about this, they risk getting other people offside.”
The opposition leader will campaign in Western Australia on Thursday while Mr Albanese will be on the ground in Melbourne.
