When Anthony Albanese meets Donald Trump on Monday, China and trade will be high on the agenda. But don't expect the prime minister to bring home the goods.
The issue has taken on new urgency in the lead-up to the meeting because, as Menzies Research Centre chief economist Nico Louw tells Capital Brief, proposed Chinese rare earth export controls “are a significant escalation beyond the existing tariff war” and “could reshape international supply chains”.
China remains critical to Australia’s economic outlook. Economists widely consider it more important than the Trump-era tariffs imposed on Australian businesses. Unfortunately, Louw says “Albanese and Trump may as well be speaking a different language when it comes to China”.
“The US is openly talking about the potential need for allies to decouple from China, while Albanese crows about stabilising the trade relationship so we can sell more rock lobsters and wine,” he says.
