Albanese spruiks 'free trade' in response to Trump's tariffs
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The news: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has emphasised the benefits of "free and fair trade" as world leaders brace for sweeping tariffs from the United States under incoming President Donald Trump.
The context: Albanese touched down in Lima, Peru, early Thursday morning Australian time for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
The prime minister, his fiancee Jodie Haydon and Agriculture Minister Julie Collins were greeted off the plane by Peru’s Minister for Development Julio Javier Demartini Montes and Australia’s ambassador to Peru Maree Ringland, before Albanese stopped to take a few questions from the travelling Australian media.
Albanese was scheduled to meet new Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto hours after landing in Lima, but Subianto's plane was delayed coming from the US where he met with President Joe Biden and had a congratulatory call with Trump.
While Albanese is resisting calls by the opposition to add a stop in Florida to meet with Trump during his trip, he is already formulating a plan to convince the president-elect not to impose tariffs of up to 20% on Australian imports. Albanese is highlighting the fact that the US has a trade surplus with Australia — a similar point that former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull used to avoid Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminium in 2017.
What they said: Asked whether he wanted an agreement at APEC to stand against the imposition of tariffs by Trump, Albanese said: “Australia will always support free and fair trade.”
“One in four of Australia’s jobs is trade dependent and that will be a focus with the meetings that we will have over coming days,” he added.
Albanese said reform of the World Trade Organisation would be on the APEC agenda to make sure “free and fair trade benefits the people of our region and indeed the people of the globe”.
He also said it was in the world’s interests to continue to take action to combat climate change with the transition to net zero.
The source: Capital Brief
