Shadow attorney-general Michaelia Cash has unleashed on the Albanese government over its failure to secure an exemption from President Donald Trump’s steel and aluminium tariffs.
It was revealed on Thursday that Australia would not be given an exemption to the 25 per cent steel and aluminium tariffs imposed by the new United States President.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese denounced President Trump’s decision to impose the tariff as “entirely unjustified” and not the way to treat a close friend and ally.
Key government figures involved in the attempts to get an exemption – including Trade Minister Don Farrell and Australia’s Ambassador to the United States, Kevin Rudd – have claimed there was nothing they could have done that would have made a difference.
Speaking to Sky News Australia on Friday, shadow attorney-general Michaelia Cash said the government’s response to the exemption decision had been “astounding”.
“I find it astounding that the press conferences they are giving are just making excuses for why they did nothing,” Senator Cash said.
“As the leader of our country, you are expected to go in to bat for Australia and Australians, and that means, yes, you get on the plane and you go over and you secure a meeting with Donald Trump.
“You pick up the phone, you do everything you can. You don’t sit back and say, ‘Well, we were never going to get it, so we’ve taken a hands off approach, and oh, goodness gracious me, we were actually right’.”
Senator Cash said that President Trump was “a businessman” who “does deals”, yet the Albanese government had failed to put themselves in a position to do a deal.
“The way you do deals is a to have a good relationship. We had that last time, as you know,” the shadow attorney-general said.
“(Former ambassador) Joe Hockey, didn’t just have a relationship with the President of the United States. The key was having a relationship, and a good relationship, with the key influences in the administration.
“But under this government, my God, you can’t even get a phone call returned.
“Quite frankly, that’s something that Kevin Rudd should have done for our prime minister, but has miserably failed.”
In an interview with the ABC on Thursday, Ambassador Rudd said he had tried and failed to organise a last minute phone call between Prime Minister Albanese and President Trump, but that it was unlikely to have made any difference to the decision.
“As we got to the end of this negotiating process I formed the judgement that it was useful to make a further request for a follow-up call by the Prime Minister with the President,” he told ABC’s 7.30.
“By the time the decision was taken, late Tuesday, we had not been able to secure that time.
“I think it stands to reason we should question whether, in fact, even this request for a late telephone call would have necessarily made a material difference.”
Trade Minister Don Farrell made similar comments on Friday, pointing out that unlike the tariffs President Trump imposed during his first term, no nation was given an exemption this time around.
“We put all of the arguments in favour of Australia getting an exemption, but at the end of the day we were not successful. But I think the important thing here is no other country was successful,” he said.
“It didn’t matter whether you had a face-to-face meeting with the President, whether there were more meetings between trade ministers and the commerce secretary, or whether there was more discussions with the ambassadors.
“I think, to be honest with you, the decision was already made that no country was going to get an exemption from those steel and aluminium tariffs.”
