Australia Pursues Stronger Trade Links Following ‘Unjustified’ US Tariffs
Australia will push to expand free trade agreements with other countries to reduce its reliance on the United States, Trade Minister Don Farrell said Sunday, slamming President Donald Trump's "unjustified" tariffs. Australia is a close US ally but has been slugged with a blanket 10 percent tariff on goods exported to the United States, rising to 50 percent on steel and aluminium, as part of Trump's sweeping global duties. "I'm hopeful that those countries around the world who do believe in free and fair trade can reach an agreement to extend free trade agreements across the globe, so that irrespective of what the Americans might chose to do, we have a greater diversity of trading partners," Farrell told Sky News. He was speaking after talks last week in Paris with the World Trade Organization, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and other countries which he said had focused on preventing "protectionism" and encouraging free and fair trade.
Trade between Australia and the United States is worth an estimated Aus$100 billion (US$65 billion) a year, with Australia buying more from the United States than it is selling, Farrell said. He said he had protested the duties last week to his US counterpart Jamieson Greer. "The position I've put to Jamieson Greer is that the tariffs that the United States have imposed on Australia are unjustified," Farrell said. "We want all of the tariffs removed, not just some of them." The European Union said last month it is seeking a defence partnership with Australia, as the bloc looks to forge a united international response to the Ukraine war and other global crises.
