Anthony Albanese has revealed he has been forced to communicate through US officials about the tariffs imposed on Australia as he awaits a call from Donald Trump.
The Prime Minister was pressed on his relationship with the US president during a tense appearance on ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday morning.
Mr Albanese had attempted to call Trump at the start of March regarding the 25 per cent tariffs imposed on steel and aluminium exported from Australia to the US.
Trump did not answer the call, with Insiders host David Speers questioning when Mr Albanese could expect to hear back from the president.
‘Any indication of if he is going to call you back?’ he asked.
Mr Albanese admitted his government was instead engaging with US officials and attempted to explain why Trump didn’t pick up his call.
‘The reason why that didn’t occur was because the president made a decision to not talk to anyone and to impose this regime on every country,’ he said.
Mr Albanese also refused to answer whether or not the US was reliable when he was first asked the question.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese refused to state Australia could ‘rely’ on the United States
‘Your Canadian counterpart Mark Carney says the United States is “no longer a reliable partner”. Do you agree?’ Speers asked.
‘We regard the United States as a friend and partner,’ Mr Albanese responded.
The Prime Minister finally gave a proper answer when he was probed a second time.
‘We regard the United States as a friend and a partner and we have been able to rely on them for a long period of time,’ he said.
‘Can you rely on Donald Trump?’ Speers asked again.
‘I believe we can,’ the Prime Minister said.
‘I’ve had two constructive discussions with Donald Trump and I will continue to engage constructively.’
On Thursday, Mr Albanese said he would still welcome the US president to Australia despite the bitter tariff clash.
Mr Albanese said he believes Australians can rely on Donald Trump
He also said he is ‘absolutely’ planning to make Washington DC one of his first international trips if re-elected in May.
‘I have discussed with the president going to the US and I expect that certainly will be very early on in the term,’ he told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing.
‘I have also invited the president to Australia.’
However, it remains unclear whether Trump will make a reciprocal visit to Australia, which would be his first trip Down Under as president.
‘He did not come in his first term as president but American presidents will always be welcome here as other international visitors,’ Mr Albanese said.
‘We are likely to host the Quad meeting next year and that will see the Quad leaders – the US, Japan and India – visit Australia.’
With threats of US tariffs being threatened across Australian industries, Mr Albanese’s approach to the US president remained a sticking point throughout his post-Budget media rounds this week.
The Labor government raised defence spending to 2.2 per cent of GDP in the Budget – well short of the three per cent of GDP that the Trump administration has demanded of Australia.
In the last week, Trump has threatened tariffs on Australian wine as well as faced pressure from ‘Big Pharma’ over Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
New US tariffs on Australian agricultural exports are set to come into effect on April 1, alongside new import taxes on Australian pharmaceutical exports unless an exemption is secured.
The Trump administration is expected to announce its next round of sector-specific tariffs next week, however, the president has hinted that he ‘may give a lot of countries breaks’.
