Albanese pushes Trump on tariff exemption

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese asked US President Donald Trump to consider a full exemption on tariffs for Australia, or at the very least no increase from the current 12.5% subject on Australian exports to the US.

Albanese spoke with Trump late last night and noted he had a "very productive, constructive, lengthy and substantial" phone call.

"I put the argument very much to the President, as a friend of the United States, we would request that to be considered," Albanese said.

Trump recently slugged trading partners, including Australia, with a new tariff of 10% to 12.5% on the premise of pressuring foreign governments to strengthen bans on "the importation of goods produced with forced labour."

On February 20, the US Supreme Court terminated the reciprocal tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act in April 2025. The court deemed the Liberation Day policies unlawful.

Trump subsequently imposed a global, blanket 10% Temporary Import Surcharge, which applied to most goods imported to the US. These temporary levies expired on July 24, with the forced-labour tariffs replacing them.

In response, the government decided to add more "teeth" to the Modern Slavery Act, by making large corporates liable to criminal offence where they fail to prevent modern slavery in their supply chains.

"I informed him about our record when it comes to dealing with issues such as modern slavery, the strengthening that we have put forward as well to look and hold companies accountable for the supply chain process as well," Albanese said.

Albanese added that while Trump holds a different position on tariffs, he pushed Australia's case by highlighting the growing presence of Australian superannuation funds in the US.

"Australian Super, for example, our biggest industry fund, has a presence and an office in the United States. It's no accident that we chose Heather Ridout as our Consul-General in New York and that the President knows, and I repeated last night, that our funds will grow to $5.5 trillion over this coming decade," Albanese said.

"That represents a very significant fund. They make decisions, of course, in the interest of their superannuates, in the interests of retirees, but that also represents an investment vehicle from Australia, including into the United States. And so, I put the case as strongly as I could."