March 13, 2025
.png)
PETER STEFANOVIC: Well, in breaking news folks, the SMH is reporting that US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has unloaded on Australia, accusing us of subsidising cheap aluminium products. Let's go live to Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson. Is this the case, James?
JAMES PATERSON: No, of course not. Australia does not dump products overseas, break any international trading rules by subsidising our domestic industries for export. We are an exemplar of the World Trade Organisation system and we are a country that engages in free and fair trade. And Pete, I think we have to ask how senior members of the Trump administration have developed views like this and why the Albanese government hasn't been successful in correcting these falsehoods. We have to put our best foot forward. The workers and families in the steel and aluminium industries deserve our best efforts to secure exemptions for Australian industry, and I worry about which industries could be hit next. But to do that, we need a Prime Minister who is willing to get on the plane to go to Washington D.C. to meet with the President, we need a Trade Minister who is willing to go over there and meet with his counterpart, which includes the Commerce Secretary, and explain Australia's case to them and put the facts on the table so there aren't misunderstandings like this.
STEFANOVIC: Okay, so we've got this comment right now, James; just stay there; let's play it for you.
[CLIP START]
HOWARD LUTNICK: You've got dumpers in the rest of the world. Japan dumps steel. China dumps steel. And we're not going to stand for China dumping, Japan dumping. Australia does a lot of aluminium at below cost. I mean, this has got to end, and the President is on it.
[CLIP ENDS]
STEFANOVIC: So is he lying, James?
PATERSON: Well, I don't know about the situation with Japan and their steel industry and aluminium industry. I won't comment on that. But it's certainly true in the case of China that they engage in significant subsidies to domestic industry, including for export. And frankly, they've engaged in some pretty predatory trade practices in the past to try and dominate key sectors like this. So he may well be right talking about those other countries. It's certainly not true, though, when it comes to Australia. That's not how we engage. And frankly, we need to have a team in Washington D.C. and a team in Canberra that can put our case forward and can get the access it needs to make our argument. And I have to raise the question, Pete, about whether our ambassador, Kevin Rudd, is best placed to do that. We all know the inappropriate and injudicious comments he made about the President in the past and I'm concerned that that might be holding back our capacity to make our case.
STEFANOVIC: Okay, but I mean, just off the back of those comments, I mean, does that show that we never stood a chance anyway as other nations didn't?
PATERSON: No, I don't agree with that, Pete, because we secured an exemption last time. President Trump did tariffs very similar to this when he was last in office, and previous Australian governments under Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison secured exemptions and maintained exemptions for Australia.
STEFANOVIC: This is a much more forceful Trump, though, is it not?
PATERSON: Well, I think we can't guarantee what a foreign government does. They make decisions in what they believe is their own best interest, but we can put our best case forward. And frankly, the low-energy attempt that the Prime Minister and his government have put into this case, I think, reflects very badly on them. Why on earth do we have a Trade Minister if he just stayed put in Australia when one of the most consequential trade decisions was being made in Washington D.C.? Why wasn't Don Farrell over there? Why wasn't the Prime Minister over there? And did our ambassador, Kevin Rudd - who was a captain's pick by the Prime Minister, opposed by many in the government - has he had the access that he needs to make our arguments for us? And that's not clear to me, and I think the government needs to stand up today and clarify that, because there could be more of these. There could be other industries hit next.
STEFANOVIC: Right, I think we're forgetting here that Donald Trump's the one who's imposing these extra taxes, so there is this claim that you're backing Donald Trump over Team Australia. Is that true?
PATERSON: No one is forgetting that it's the Trump administration that's putting these tariffs in place, and we have publicly argued strongly against them. Peter Dutton has said publicly that it will be damaging to the Australian-US relationship if the administration proceeds down this path, and they have proceeded down this path. And it is an unfortunate rupture in what is a very close and very important relationship. But what we need in office in Australia is strong leadership so that we can make our best possible case to the Trump administration. And I think it is clear The Trump administration does not respect our Prime Minister. We know that he's been avoiding his phone calls despite the Prime Minister's previous attempts to deny reporting around that issue. And we need a stronger Prime Minister in Australia so that we can put our best foot forward in the US.
STEFANOVIC: You alluded to this in your first response, James, but if steel and aluminium didn't get a carve out, what hope does beef and pharmaceuticals have?
PATERSON: Well, that would be diabolical if there are further tariffs applying to industries like those. It would be diabolical if those industries were hit, too, because there are many workers and families in those industries as well. And we need to very urgently do two things. One, we need to make sure that we've got the best possible connections into the Trump administration from the President down because this administration is unique, among many others, in that the President's personal views on these issues are hugely determinative. And so we need a good relationship between our Prime Minister and the President, and there's no evidence that's happening. The second thing, though, we need to do is recognise that America is putting America first, and we have to put Australia first. There are policy changes that we need to make to make ourselves as strong as possible and as competitive as possible to navigate this world. We need to get our energy costs down. We need to reduce the burden of red tape and regulation. We need an efficient and competitive tax system. We need Australian businesses able to compete on the international stage and the only way we're going to do that is if we change the government and get our country back on track.
STEFANOVIC: Okay, we'll have to leave it there, James. Thank you, though. We'll chat to you again soon.
ENDS
