SYDNEY, July 26 – Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Sunday his government would continue to push the United States to lift newly imposed tariffs on Australian imports, saying he plans to raise the issue directly with US President Donald Trump.
The United States said on Friday it will impose new tariffs on imports from 60 trading partners, including Australia. The measures, Washington said, are aimed at countries it believes have not done enough to prevent goods manufactured with forced labour from entering global supply chains. They came into effect after a temporary 10% tariff on the world expired.
Australia is among 38 countries now affected by a 12.5% tariff under the new U.S. policy. Seventeen other countries have a 10 per cent tariff, while five countries have mixed tariff rates.
The Albanese government has called the measures unjustified and called for their withdrawal.
Asked if he would raise the matter with Trump, Albanese said: "Absolutely.
We’ll raise it at all levels of the Australia-U.S. relationship. "We've already done that," he said in a televised statement.
Albanese said Australia had strong laws to prevent modern slavery and was tightening scrutiny of supply chains. “Those rules, he said, can lead to hefty financial penalties for businesses that break them.
The prime minister has repeatedly said the top priority of his government is to preserve “free and fair trade” with the United States. Tariffs were also a key issue in a previous exchange between Albanese and Trump following Labour's sweeping election victory last year.
The new tariffs add to tensions between two close allies with strong economic and security ties, although both governments stress the importance of their wider bilateral relationship.
