Bruce Hawker: Australian political strategist on Donald Trump rejecting Australia's bid for a tariff exemption

It's unclear if Australia will hit the US with counter-tariffs after Donald Trump's recent announcement.

The US President has confirmed Australia won't be exempt from new tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from tonight.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called the tariffs 'entirely unjustified'. 

Australian political strategist Bruce Hawker says locals know it's probably not worth fighting over. 

"Most Australians will be saying - look, let's let this thing ride. It's not good, it's an act of b*******, I guess, by a country that's been friendly and loyal to Australia."

LISTEN ABOVE

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bryan Bridge twenty three or way too now. The Ossie
PM Anthony ALBERIZI, he's head out at Donald Trump. This
after the US declined today to make an exception on
tarifs for Ossie steel and aluminium.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Such a decision, ya, the Trump administration is entirely unjustified.
This is against the spirit of our two nations enduring
friendship and fundamentally at odds with the benefits that our
economic partnership has delivered over more than seventy years.

Speaker 1 (00:32):
And here is Trump's spokeswoman, Carolyn Livett.

Speaker 3 (00:35):
The President is unweavering in his commitment to restore American
manufacturing and global dominance.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Now, the Australian political strategist Bruce Hawker is with me tonight. Bruce,
good evening, Ryan, How are you good? Thank you. Any
surprises are on your side of the testment.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
To this look, I don't think so, really. I think
people were preparing for the worst. That didn't really seem
to be any indication that President Trump was going to
give any exemption for any countries. Obviously the government was
hopeful and they had a lot of representations being made,
but at the end of the day, the tariff program

(01:14):
that Trump's putting in place is going to apply to
Australia as well.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
Do you reckon Turnbull had anything to do with this?

Speaker 3 (01:21):
Well, I wondered about that. I mean, it was unfortunate
that those comments were made at the time. And Trump
is such a unique character when it comes to personalizing
his responses and the way in which he plays his politics.
It's not beyond doubt that that could have been the case.
But who knows.

Speaker 1 (01:40):
How's it playing domestically, And I know Albanese is also
saying they're not going to hit back with any counter tariffs.
I mean, do people want strength from their ousipm at
the moment to stand up against Trump or was everybody
happy to be a bit more softly softly?

Speaker 3 (01:54):
Well, I think they've seen what's happened in places like Canada,
where the response by the CANAE in putting tariffs on
America led to doubling of the tariffs on the Canadians.
So I think the similar sanguine view in Australia as well.
Maybe we just got to ride this one out for
a while. It's clear that there are going to be

(02:15):
very significant impacts on America with their tariff policy and
causing inflation and having effects on their stock market right now.
So who knows what Trump's next move or move down
the street you know a few months is going to be.
So I think that probably most Australians would be saying, look,
let's let this thing ride. It's not good. It's an

(02:36):
act of bassardry, I guess, I would think by some
by a country that's been very friendly and loyal to Australia,
as has been to New Zealand largely, but we live
in these very strange times. The opposition obviously has come
out and said that more should have been done and
so forth. So it's run down pretty predictable lines. But

(02:57):
I suspect that most people would think it just wait
and see how this event unfold in the coming months.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
Bruce, thank you very much for that. Bruce Walker, Australian
political strategist with US. It's interesting to note, and I
are supposed to put it in some context that the
US only takes zero point two percent of Australia's still
and aluminium.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive. Listen live to
news Talks. It'd be from four pm weekdays, or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio,