As Australia faces a possible 25 per cent tariff on steel and aluminium products sold to the United States, Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth insists the government is in a good position to argue for an exemption.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is due to speak to US President Donald Trump in a scheduled call later today.
“[The PM] has already had a phone call with President Trump before he actually took position in the White House,” Rishworth told Nine’s Today.
“Our foreign minister [Penny Wong] was one of the few world leaders invited to the inauguration. Of course, we’ve been building those person-to-person links through our government. So look, we are working very hard and we’ll keep working very hard using every channel available.”
Nationals senator Matt Canavan was also on the panel, and he blamed the appointment of former prime minister Kevin Rudd to the US ambassadorship for possible difficulties Australia could face in securing an exemption.
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“It is a mess of the Prime Minister’s own making here. He appointed Kevin Rudd after Kevin had made the injudicious comments about Donald Trump. And having dug that hole, he needs to dig us out of it here. It’s up to him now. The test is on him,” Canavan said.
“But we shouldn’t also panic either. As you say, they’re not our biggest market for these products,” he concluded.
Rishworth took the opportunity to defend Rudd, saying he had done an “excellent job” building relationships in the US.
“[The Coalition] are making this into a political football. We should be all acting in our national interest, and working together.”
Read more about the Trump-Albanese call and Australia’s position in the tariff debate here.
