Written by Kirsty Needham
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he told US president-elect Donald Trump in a phone call that the United States has a trade surplus with Australia and it is in Washington’s interest to “trade fairly” with its ally.
Trump has proposed a 10% tariff on all US goods and a 60% tariff on products made in China.
Giving details of last week’s phone call with Trump, Albanese said in a radio interview on Wednesday that he raised the issue of trade with Trump.
“The United States has a trade surplus with Australia, so it is in the United States’ interests to trade equally with Australia,” he said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Under Trump’s first presidency, Australia won an exemption from US tariffs on its aluminum and steel exports.
The United States is Australia’s biggest security partner, and the US will sell nuclear-powered submarines to Australia under the AUKUS partnership. The naval patrol is hosted in the northern city of Darwin, where air bases are being developed to accommodate US bombers.
China is Australia’s largest export market, with trade dominated by steel, gas and coal.
Albanese, who will attend the APEC and G20 summits in Peru and Brazil in the next few days, said he is focused on “free and fair trade”, amid strategic competition between the United States and China.
“We think we can play a role as a middle power … of course we have an alliance with the United States, but China is our biggest trade partner,” he said.
