Former senior minister Bill Shorten has waded back into the political discourse, urging Australia to “push back” against Donald Trump’s call to hit Australian steel and aluminium imports with 25 per cent tariffs.
While the government will continue negotiating an exemption for Australia, it has ruled out retaliatory tariffs which it argues would hit Australian businesses harder.
However Mr Shorten, who officially resigned from parliament in January to become University of Canberra’s vice chancellor, said Australia needed to “consider putting everything on the table to fight back”.
Former Labor minister Bill Shorten said Australia should ‘push back’ against the tariffs and ‘fight back’. Picture: NewsWire/ Martin Ollman
He said the aggressive action was needed due to the potential of future tariffs on new sectors, like the beef industry, with Australia’s US exports totalling about $16.5bn.
“I worry about the next sector and the next sector … At some stage we have to have to send a message to President Trump that if you do something to us, we’ll do it back,” he told Sunrise.
“Australia might be a bit smaller than America, but we’re not a soft mark and we need to consider putting everything on the table to fight back.”
Although Mr Shorten said the government, and Australia’s US Ambassador Kevin Rudd has been “doing a good job,” he said the US needs to know Australia “means business”.
“I think all reasonable Australians will say at a certain point: ‘You push us, we push you.’ It’s as simple as that,” he said.
“We mean business. We care about our jobs, as much as you care about your jobs, as much as you care about your jobs.
“Far better to stick to your agreement, stick to the road rules but if people don’t want to play by the rules, you gotta stand up and be counted.”
The Trump administration has declined to give tariff exemptions on Australian steel and aluminium imports. Picture: Joseph Prezioso/ AFP
Speaking to The Australian’s Global Food Forum on Friday, Trade Minister Don Farrell said he would continue to employ “calm, considered diplomacy to resolve all of our trade issues with the United States.
He said while retaliatory tariffs were “tempting,” he said it would go against Australia’s support of free trading.
Notably, Australia also refrained from imposing tariffs after Beijing hit producers hard with high tariffs totalling $20bn on lucrative imports like barley, rock lobster, beef and wine.
Senator Farrell said this was proof “calm, persistent and quiet diplomacy pays off”, with the minister set to speak to his US counterpart Howard Lutnick on Monday (or Tuesday Australian time).
“Our approach working closely with industry has seen the return of every single product into China,” he said.
“We’re also focused on opening new markets for Australian businesses producers and farmers,” he added flagging more deals with the United Arab Emirates, which he described as the “Woolies warehouse of the Middle East”.
While Australia was granted exemptions in 2017, alongside other countries including Argentina and Brazil, Mr Trump’s second round of levies have been sweeping.
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