Australia’s Ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd has revealed a new tactic designed to force Donald Trump to rethink his punitive tariffs.
Mr Rudd, a former Labor prime minister, said Australia had critical minerals the US needs, and suggested these could be used as leverage in trade negotiations, with more American tariffs on agricultural and pharmaceutical imports planned for April.
‘Australia has a range of advantages to bring to the table on the question of how to assist the United States given certain of its own national strategic vulnerabilities,’ he told ABC 7.30 host Sarah Ferguson.
Critical minerals are needed to manufacture mobile phones, computers and defence equipment.
Australia has deposits of cobalt, graphite, nickel, titanium and tungsten, which the US regards as critical.
Mr Rudd said the Australian government would make this point with the President Trump, as it did unsuccessfully with his more sympathetic Democrat predecessor Joe Biden.
‘We can do the same with this administration. If you do the maths, it’s pretty interesting,’ he said.
‘America designates itself as having 50 categories of critical minerals, which it needs for the future, 50 priority categories.
Australia’s Ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd has revealed a new tactic designed to force Donald Trump to rethink his punitive tariffs
‘They see themselves as being vulnerable in 12 of those, and they are import dependent in 40 of those.
‘For Australia, if you look at those 50, we are currently supplying 28 and can supply 36 of them. You see, Australia equals the periodic table.’
Australian is also home to mining giants BHP and Rio Tinto, and mining billionaires Gina Rinehart and Andrew Forrest.
‘We also have the biggest and best mining companies in the world, so we stand ready to assist, as we did with the Biden administration,’ Mr Rudd said.
‘We didn’t get there in the end with them, but of course, that remains on the table from us.
‘Also with this administration, we are uniquely positioned to be able to do this.’
Mr Rudd defended his boss, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, against the suggestion he had little sway with President Trump, who didn’t take his phone call before new 25 per cent tariffs on Australian steel and aluminium was imposed on Wednesday.
‘I formed the judgment that it was then useful to make a further request for a further follow up call by the Prime Minister with the President, and by the time the decision was taken, however, on Tuesday of this week, late Tuesday, we had not been able to secure that time,’ he said.
Mr Rudd, a former Labor prime minister, said Australia had critical minerals the US needed and suggested these could be used as leverage in trade negotiations, with more new American tariffs planned (pictured is Donald Trump)
Mr Rudd said the second Trump Administration appeared unlikely to grant exemptions to countries it had a trade surplus with, like it did in 2018 for Australia on those grounds.
‘We’re up against a deep, ideological, strategic view of this Trump administration that they intend not to produce qualifications from the positions on tariffs that they undertook in the last administration because of their deep view of their relationship with the rest of the world and the global economy,’ he said.
US Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick on Thursday accused Australia dumping aluminium on the American market, at below cost, without evidence.
‘It’s really important just to step back a little bit and understand that the America we’re dealing with since the 20th of January, is a vastly different America from the past, and in fact, significantly different from the period of Trump 1.0, the first Trump administration,’ Mr Rudd said.
‘This administration is more nationalist on questions of foreign policy, more protectionist on trade policy, and much more transactional in its overall approach to international negotiations.’
Trade Minister Don Farrell, a Labor Right faction powerbroker who was instrumental in bringing down Rudd as PM in 2010, revealed on Thursday the Trump Administration was planning new tariffs on agricultural and pharmaceutical imports on April 1.
Unlike steel and aluminium, meat and medicine exports from Australia are worth a lot more, which means tariffs of up to 25 per cent would be more damaging.
‘Well, we sell a lot of agricultural products to the United States. We sell a lot of pharmaceutical products to the United States,’ Senator Farrell said.
‘There’s $30billion worth of products that we sell to the United States. We don’t want any of those products that haven’t yet been subject to the tariff to be subject to the tariff.
‘And that’s the argument that we’re putting to the United States, and that’s the argument we will continue to put to the United States.’
