Link to Article: https://apnews.com/article/australia-tariffs-steel-aluminum-exemption-fe8ad2239a20c65d42c9249c05ae9303
The Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese said in a public statement on Wednesday that despite the unjustified new U.S tariffs imposed on its steel and aluminum, that the Australian government would not retaliate with tariffs, or sanctions, of their own. This comes in conclusion to President Donald Trump of the United States making a statement in the month prior to this, stating that an exemption may be made to Australia on the tariffs, given that Australia trades with the United States at a deficit, even despite current free trade agreements. This exemption is not new, as in 2018, a tariff exemption was already granted to Australia, given that one of its major steel foundries employs thousands of American workers.
Despite aiming to secure a second tariff exemption, Prime Minister Albanese was quick to reprimand the United States and its new administration’s almost clear “no exemption” policy to this new round of tariffs, amid doubts of a recession in the American markets, claiming it will only harken the Australian market as well, hurting its economic growth, and possibly spiking inflation. P.M Albanese made it clear despite all this though that Australia will not be imposing retaliatory tariffs. The tariff as it stands is that of 25% imposed by the 2nd Trump Administration, and exemptions look unlikely currently as a public spat between President Trump and former Prime Minister Trumbull of Australia is ongoing over Trumbull leadership capabilities, for most notably being thrown out by his own elected government in 2018.
As for what I think, I believe that this could very well affect our relations with Australia, however, despite the public spat with Trumbull and Trump ongoing across social media platforms–its likely to not affect Prime Minister Albanese’s opinion of not imposing retaliatory tariffs, especially with his aims of sourcing a second tariff exemption for Australian goods. I believe it is to likely to happen, and as it shows, the Australian major steel manufacturers, such as BlueScope, has thousands of American workers employed from across the globe.
The United States and its new administration are publicly much differing to what is happening behind closed doors, and given the history of what we have seen thus far in this administration, I believe it to be no different for this situation. Australia and the United States may very well figure out a solution, if that be lessening tariffs, or a second exemption all together. What we cannot say is how this whole situation will pan out, but what remains clear is that Australia will not act retaliatory, only aiming to secure its future as a partner of the United States, both economically, politically, and militarily.