Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says U.S. tariffs on Australian steel and aluminum are unjustified, but his government will not retaliate with its own tariffs.
Why do most people here seem to agree that Trump’s tarrifs are stupid and brash, yet Australia’s leadership deeming retaliatory tarrifs would be the same is ‘gutless and weak’?
This is just smart leadership on Australia’s part. We are a trade surplus partner with USA - meaning we import more from the US than we export, and importantly the targets of the tarriffs are only a small fraction of our exports to the US.
So, to create knee-jerk retaliatory tarrifs on the US for the sake of assisting a very small sliver of our exports would be truly shooting ourselves in the foot.
Sum total: ~$550mil of our $14.7billion exports to the US in 2024 were aluminium or steel or their ores. So a 25% tarrif on 3.7% of our exports? To a country we have a trade surplus with?
Because if Trump gets his way with tariffs he will move emboldened onto whatever his next stupid strategy is probably something like trying to dismantle Nato or whatever. However if all the world retaliates together to this bully then he will know what will happen next time he starts doing stupid shit. classic school yard bully situation in some sense. If the bullied is left alone and others don’t react in unison then the bully will continue to bully.
I’m Australia’s regard, what the bully is doing is hurting himself more that his victim.
If the bully punches himself in the face I’m not gonna punch myself in the face to prevent him being emboldened.
As an aside, I don’t know why people think that a market capitalism solution is what will stop Trump. The whole world won’t just stop buying US-made products in unison and the NASDAQ drops precipitously and Trump announces “oh dear, i will stop doing a fascism and be a good boy from now on”. This is a fantasy that does not map to the real world.
Look at how tarrifs have affected Putin or Kim Jong Il: barely at all. Yes, their people suffer, but the leaders make new trade deals with different counties so their personal wealth in largely unaffected. Meanwhile they have big propaganda wins as it feeds right into their party narrative that the ‘rest of the world is against us’, ‘the elites are conspiring at the WTO’. And those countries have been heavily targeted by tariff schemes for decades, how long you guys want Trump?
Historically the only way authoritarian regimes are brought down is via internal conflict or war.
However if all the world retaliates together to this bully then he will know what will happen next time he starts doing stupid shit. classic school yard bully situation in some sense.
You’re assuming Trump is capable of learning the types of lessons that schoolyard bullies learn.
Why do most people here seem to agree that Trump’s tarrifs are stupid and brash, yet Australia’s leadership deeming retaliatory tarrifs would be the same is ‘gutless and weak’?
This is just smart leadership on Australia’s part. We are a trade surplus partner with USA - meaning we import more from the US than we export, and importantly the targets of the tarriffs are only a small fraction of our exports to the US.
So, to create knee-jerk retaliatory tarrifs on the US for the sake of assisting a very small sliver of our exports would be truly shooting ourselves in the foot.
Have a look at our iron ore export leading markets and look for the USA to see how much we need them: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1149300/australia-leading-iron-ore-export-destinations/
Now add up ALL iron, steel aluminium, and ‘ores’ from this list of all Aus -> US exports: https://tradingeconomics.com/australia/exports/united-states
Sum total: ~$550mil of our $14.7billion exports to the US in 2024 were aluminium or steel or their ores. So a 25% tarrif on 3.7% of our exports? To a country we have a trade surplus with?
Its not worth us tariffing them, would hurt us far more than we gain, and our top economists agree - saying “retaliatory tarrifs would be an act of self-sabotage” https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-02/treasury-came-armed-with-a-warning-politicians-dragged-them-mud/104995418
Because if Trump gets his way with tariffs he will move emboldened onto whatever his next stupid strategy is probably something like trying to dismantle Nato or whatever. However if all the world retaliates together to this bully then he will know what will happen next time he starts doing stupid shit. classic school yard bully situation in some sense. If the bullied is left alone and others don’t react in unison then the bully will continue to bully.
I’m Australia’s regard, what the bully is doing is hurting himself more that his victim.
If the bully punches himself in the face I’m not gonna punch myself in the face to prevent him being emboldened.
As an aside, I don’t know why people think that a market capitalism solution is what will stop Trump. The whole world won’t just stop buying US-made products in unison and the NASDAQ drops precipitously and Trump announces “oh dear, i will stop doing a fascism and be a good boy from now on”. This is a fantasy that does not map to the real world.
Look at how tarrifs have affected Putin or Kim Jong Il: barely at all. Yes, their people suffer, but the leaders make new trade deals with different counties so their personal wealth in largely unaffected. Meanwhile they have big propaganda wins as it feeds right into their party narrative that the ‘rest of the world is against us’, ‘the elites are conspiring at the WTO’. And those countries have been heavily targeted by tariff schemes for decades, how long you guys want Trump? Historically the only way authoritarian regimes are brought down is via internal conflict or war.
You’re assuming Trump is capable of learning the types of lessons that schoolyard bullies learn.
Are they looking at any nontariff measures?
And I don’t wanna talk to an economist, y’all motherfuckers lyin’ and gettin’ me pissed