Former Labor minister Bill Shorten has suggested retaliating against the United States if President Donald Trump slapped further taxes on Australian imports.
This week the leader of the free world decided against giving Australia an exemption on the 25 per cent tariffs on aluminium and steel, after previously considering it.
White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told Australian media if Australia wanted an exemption then businesses should consider moving steel manufacturing to the US.
Australia is not the only country hit by tariffs, with other nations slapped heavily, a move which President Trump believes will boost American manufacturing and protect jobs.
The commander in chief on Thursday (local time) threatened a 200 per cent tariff on wine, cognac and other alcohol imports from Europe, after the European Union planned to impose a tax on US whiskey in response to the steel and aluminium tariffs.
Speaking to Sunrise on Friday, Mr Shorten said the tariffs – a tax paid when goods are sent from one country into another – is “not an easy position” for any nation.
He backed in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, saying taxes on aluminium and steel are “unjustified” and dismissed accusations Australia “dump our material” in the US.
“So, our aluminium and steel industry – and I used to be their union leader – doesn’t deserve this treatment from our ally. It’s a tough circumstance,” Mr Shorten said.
Dumping is when a company exports a product to another country at a price that is lower than the price charged in its own market back at home.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton labelled the Albanese government as “weak” for not being able to secure an exemption, insisting he would have if he was leading.
Mr Shorten dismissed Mr Dutton’s claims and flagged his concern about other industries that could be in the firing line given President Trump’s “unpredictability”.
“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 said on the Channel 7 breakfast show.
“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.”
Pressed further, Mr Shorten said “every option’s got to be on the table”.
“At the end of the day, if they (the US) keep putting tariffs on all of our goods we have to reciprocate tariff for tariff,” the former Labor leader added.
“Tariffs don’t help anyone, but if President Trump thinks he can push other countries around, sooner or later you have to push back.
“This is not the argument that Australia wants to be in… and I think all reasonable Australians will say at a certain point, ‘You push us, we push you.’ It’s as simple as that. We care about our jobs, as much as you care about your jobs.”
Mr Shorten left politics this year to be Vice Chancellor at the University of Canberra.
Speaking to Sky News’ First Edition, shadow foreign minister David Coleman hit back at the suggestion to respond with our own tariffs against the US.
“To say publicly to the United States, if you don’t do this, we’re going to do that, that’s not the way to succeed in negotiations, particularly with such an important partner as the United States. And it suggests to me that the government’s basically given up on the substance here, and they’re all about the political theatrics,” he said to Peter Stefanovic.
Mr Coleman stressed it was critical to have a “good relationship” with the US and that it appeared not to be the case with the PM who “can’t get a phone call returned”.
After the failure to secure an exemption, the Albanese government is using its critical minerals as potential leverage to avoid further tariffs on Australian industries.
A “generous offer” was made for tariff free access to US markets but it was rejected.
Kevin Rudd, Australia’s Ambassador to the United States, had been in meetings with the US Commerce Secretary in Washington but could not come to a deal.
Speaking to ABC’s 7:30, Mr Rudd said negotiations had been ongoing from Mr Albanese’s call with Mr Trump in February to senior ministers such as Penny Wong and Jim Chalmers in discussions with American officials in the US and on the phone.
“So, it’s been tough and hard but we have delivered our arguments as equally firmly back, so far, they haven’t prevailed on this. We’ll continue in these discussions for a long time to come. We’re Australian, we don’t give up that easily,” the former PM said.
Mr Rudd also argued a call to President Trump by Mr Albanese would have made a difference given other visits and phone discussions by world leaders yielded no results.
