Donald Trump has pressed ahead with a 25 per cent tariff on steel and aluminium entering the United States from all countries – but hinted could be granted an exemption.
‘Today I’m simplifying our tariffs on steel and aluminium,’ the US President said.
‘It’s 25 per cent without exceptions or exemptions.’
When asked about potential retaliation from other countries, Trump said: ‘I don’t mind.’
Despite his comments, Trump hinted could be granted an exemption after he spoke with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier today.
‘I told him that that’s something that we’ll give great consideration to,’ Trump said.
Trump also called Mr Albanese a ‘very fine man’, and said that ‘s trade surplus with United States put the country in a good position.
‘We have a surplus with . One of the few. And the reason is they buy a lot of airplanes. They’re rather far away and they need lots of airplanes. We actually have a surplus,’ Trump said.
Earlier today Mr Albanese said he was confident a deal could be made with Trump to secure special status for .
‘I presented ‘s case for an exemption, and we agreed on wording to say publicly – which is that the US President agreed that an exemption was under consideration in the interests of both of our countries,’ Mr Albanese said.
‘We’ll continue to engage quite clearly, constructively.
‘If you have a look at what we’ve achieved already, it’s been a tremendous start to the relationship. Penny Wong [was] invited to the inauguration [and] Richard Marles sat down with the secretary of defence, Pete Hegseth, just on the weekend.’
Mr Albanese highlighted that his call was among Trump’s first with world leaders since his inauguration.
‘We have a USD$2trillion economy here. [Super] funds are looking at international investment as well as investment here in ,’ Mr Albanese said, hinting they could be a source for capital investment in the US.
Trump imposed similar tariffs on steel and aluminium during his first term in 2018, but was able to secure an exemption from the measure shortly after it was enacted.
Speaking after signing an executive order enacting the tariffs in the Oval Office, Trump said the measure would bolster manufacturing in the US.
‘It’s going to bring our aluminium business back and make it go higher. It may go higher,’ he said.
Innes Willox, CEO of n Industry Group, said on Monday that Trump’s tariffs were a ‘slap in the face’ to .
He said on Tuesday that the US President’s agreement to a possible exemption was ‘a welcome first step to protect vital industries with more than 100,000 mostly regional jobs’.
He applauded Mr Albanese for ‘getting on the front foot so soon after President Trump’s announcement’ but warned ‘this negotiation has a long way to run’.
‘It is very important that the next round of negotiations ensure any agreement on exemptions is very specific in any executive order,’ Mr Willox said.
Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull successfully negotiated an exemption from 25 per cent American tariffs on steel and 10 per cent taxes on aluminum when he was in office during Trump’s first term in 2018.
Mr Turnbull had pointed out the US had trade surpluses with – where Aussies bought more goods and services from Americans than they bought from us.
He said on Monday night that for to get the same deal from the Americans this time around we need to ‘win their respect’.
‘We have to stand up… there is a tendency, particularly in parts of the media in , to sort of encourage n leaders to be sycophantic to the Americans.
‘I mean, it’s exactly the 180-degree reverse of what we should be doing.’