Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said US tariffs on Australian steel and aluminium were unjustified, but his government had no plans to retaliate.
Last month, US President Donald Trump mentioned that he was considering exempting Australia from tariffs, a free trade agreement partner that has run a trade deficit with the US for years.
The previous Australian government won a tariff exemption during the Trump administration in 2018, based on arguments including the fact that Australian steelmaker BlueScope provides jobs to thousands of Americans.
The process of obtaining the duty exemption in 2018 took several months, and Mr Albanese said he would continue to seek an exemption for Australia.
“It was expected that no country, regardless of its relationship with the United States, would be exempted. This decision by the Trump administration is completely unfounded,” he said.
“Tariffs and escalating trade tensions are a form of economic self-destruction and a recipe for slower growth and higher inflation. Consumers bear the cost. That's why Australia will not impose retaliatory tariffs on the United States.”
On Wednesday, the United States officially raised tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports to 25%.
The decision not to exempt Australia from the tariffs came shortly after a row broke out between Mr Trump and the former Australian prime minister who secured the exemption in 2018, Malcolm Turnbull.
Mr Trump has described Mr Turnbull, who left politics in 2018 after his own government was ousted as prime minister, as a weak and ineffective leader.
“Malcolm Turnbull, former Prime Minister of Australia, who always ran this great country from behind, never understood what was going on in China and never had the opportunity to do so,” Mr Trump wrote on social media.
“I always thought he was a weak and ineffective leader and apparently the Australians (sic) agreed with me!!!”
He was responding to an interview Mr Turnbull gave this week to US media company Bloomberg, in which the former Australian prime minister claimed that Chinese President Xi Jinping would take advantage of the US president's chaotic and unpredictable leadership.
“I think China will benefit enormously from Trump's policies,” Mr Turnbull told Bloomberg.
“My prediction is that President Xi will be the complete opposite of Trump. Where Trump is chaotic, he will be consistent.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
