Dutton 'not adequately' blaming Trump for tariffs

ABC NEWS (Australia)

National Political Lead David Speers says Peter Dutton is laying the blame for Donald Trump's tariffs on Australia at the feet of the Government because it's politically expedient.

Transcript

00:00How's the coalition positioning itself here?

00:04Look, Peter Dutton has noted this was a bad decision on the part of the Trump administration,

00:10but he has spent the bulk of the time there, as we saw, trying to lay as much blame as

00:13possible at the feet of Anthony Albanese.

00:16Not even necessarily Kevin Rudd, but Anthony Albanese, weak, incompetent, couldn't get

00:21a phone call, should have got an exemption.

00:23We got one last time.

00:25And critically, Peter Dutton is suggesting there that should he win the election, he

00:30could get an exemption for Australia.

00:32Now that's despite the fact that Canada, Mexico, Japan, India, South Korea, the UK, France,

00:38you name it.

00:39No one's got an exemption.

00:40But Peter Dutton is arguing he could.

00:42I think this also ignores Peter Navarro, Trump's top trade adviser in the White House, saying

00:47very clearly this is a no exemptions approach this time.

00:51That's because they feel that the exemptions that were granted last time, specifically

00:55to Australia, that deals that were done were reneged upon, that they backfired, that the

01:00exemption was a bad idea.

01:01His advice is very strongly, he's reiterated this again today, that there's a blanket no

01:05exemptions this time.

01:07But Peter Dutton reckons he could get an exemption to this.

01:11Now, look, I think, you know, there are clearly some risks for the opposition in trying to

01:15sheet as much blame as possible home to Anthony Albanese.

01:17You can understand the political imperative to do that.

01:21What we've seen around the world when it comes to Trump tariffs is communities, local domestic

01:27populations rallying around the flag to a degree in very much blaming Trump for this.

01:32We're seeing it in Canada.

01:33We're seeing it in Mexico.

01:35We're seeing it in Europe as well.

01:37And there's the prospect here that Peter Dutton isn't adequately blaming the real source of

01:43this decision, and that is Donald Trump for the situation we find ourselves in.

01:47So we now have quite a split over why this has been imposed, this tariff, and whether

01:54it can be resolved.

01:55And what do you make of the response from the Prime Minister then?

01:58Has he been more forceful than anything we've seen since Mr Trump returned to the White

02:02House?

02:03Yes, he has.

02:06The gloves are coming off, if you like.

02:07Gone is the softly, softly approach.

02:10Today we saw Anthony Albanese's toughest language in relation to Donald Trump.

02:14He's called this unjustified.

02:16He's called this unfriendly.

02:18He's warned that this will create economic self-harm to the American people by forcing

02:22up prices.

02:23He's made clear we're not about to impose any sort of retaliatory tariffs in response

02:27to this because it would only push up prices here.

02:30But I thought this was perhaps most interesting, a fairly ominous warning about what this does

02:34to the view of the Australian people towards the United States.

02:39It is disappointing.

02:40Australia has a close relationship with the United States.

02:45Australians need to act in a way that reinforces to our respective populations the fact that

02:52we are friends.

02:53This is not a friendly act, but it is imposed on every country, is important.

03:01So it seems, David, that the relationship with the United States and President Trump

03:05is likely to feature in the approaching election campaign.

03:08Will that help or hurt the government?

03:11Well it will feature, very much so.

03:13This decision has come before the proper campaign begins, but where it goes from here, whether

03:18there are further tariff decisions, we have this threat from Donald Trump of further retaliatory

03:23tariffs that could cover everything from GSTs to other government supports for various industries.

03:28Look, who is this going to help or hurt?

03:31It is difficult to know, but I would point to the surging popularity of the Liberal Party,

03:38as it's called, on the left in Canada under new leader Mark Carney, who's set to become

03:42their Prime Minister.

03:43He has taken a very tough response to Donald Trump, and that is helping him in terms of

03:49local popular support.

03:50We're not Canada, we're not facing that level of trade threat.

03:53This is fairly modest, what we're talking about with steel and aluminium, but Anthony

03:57Albanese would be watching that.

03:59He would be looking to see how it's playing in domestic politics in different parts of

04:03the world, the approach being taken to Donald Trump, and I don't think it's any mistake

04:07that after what we've seen from Canada, Anthony Albanese, after this decision, has gone in

04:12harder against Donald Trump as well.

04:14So he'd be confident that Australians will be on his side in blaming Donald Trump for

04:18this rather than himself.

04:20Look, we will see.

04:22In the meantime, he still needs to navigate this relationship.

04:25His warning there that you just heard about how this is going to play out in terms of

04:27popular views of America, of the United States, is interesting.

04:31He didn't go to, you know, what this means for popular support for AUKUS, US access to

04:37Australian military bases, US access to critical minerals, all of those things.

04:42You know, he doesn't want this to affect the defence relationship, but I think it's pretty

04:46evident in what he's saying that there is going to be an impact and a cost for the United

04:50States in what it's done here in terms of how Australians view this relationship.

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