Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reached out to US President Donald Trump on Friday, requesting an exemption from tariffs that were imposed on Australia last month. This development highlights ongoing trade tensions and the Australian government’s efforts to mitigate the economic impact of these tariffs.
“The ask that I made of the president is that he consider full exemption, or at the very least, no increase,” Albanese told journalists. In what he described as a “warm and productive” conversation, the US president agreed to consider exempting Australia from that tariff, Albanese said. “I did ask that Australia’s position as a friend of the United States be considered, and the president agreed that he would give consideration to my request,” he said.
“Our position as a government is that tariffs are an economic imposition, a cost on the countries that are imposing them and we support free and fair trade.
Albanese said he had raised the war in the Middle East and reiterated Australia’s view that Iran should not be allowed to have nuclear weapons. “I expressed our view that we wanted to see an end to the conflict there,” he said.
