SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Sunday he expected to have a one-on-one discussion with U.S. President Donald Trump on tariffs, as Washington prepares to announce new tariffs on its trading partners on April 2.
There are concerns Australia could be impacted by the looming escalation in the Trump administration’s global trade war when it unveils the reciprocal tariffs on so-called “liberation day”. Trump this month imposed steel and aluminium tariffs that affect Australian exports.
Albanese, speaking on the second full day of campaigning ahead of a May 3 general election in Australia, said his government had engaged “very constructively” with U.S. officials on tariffs, ahead of the expected April 2 announcement.
Asked about the possibility of speaking with Trump on the issue, Albanese said: “We’ll have a one-on-one discussion”.
“A couple of weeks ago, the reason why that didn’t occur was because the president made a decision to not talk to anyone and impose this regime on every country,” Albanese added, in remarks televised by the Australian Broadcasting Corp from Canberra.
A key issue in Australia’s election campaign is which leader – Albanese or the Liberal-National coalition’s Peter Dutton – would best handle relations with Trump, who exempted Australia from U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminium during his first presidential term.
Albanese has previously said his centre-left Labor government is “engaging on a daily basis” with the Trump administration over tariffs, pointing to his two phone calls with the U.S. president and early meetings between the two countries’ defence and foreign ministers.
Also on Sunday, Albanese’s government made a pledge to crack down on price gouging by the nation’s supermarkets, as part of the five-week election campaign in which the cost of living also is a central issue. Albanese on Saturday touted Labor’s credentials on affordable healthcare.
The government is running neck-and-neck in opinion polls with the National-Liberal coalition, which has campaigned on a housing crisis that it claims is putting home ownership out of reach. Longer-term, the coalition wants to adopt nuclear power in the country.
After enjoying a healthy lead for much of his term, Albanese’s personal approval ratings are now near those of Dutton, a former police officer and the defence minister in the last conservative government.
(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Paul Simao)
