Albanese Says No One Got a Better Deal out of Trump Tariffs Than Australia

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese may not be a fan of the 10 percent baseline tariff on Aussie beef, but does admit the nation didn’t cop the rawest deal.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a visit to Flinders Medical Centre on Day 4 of the 2025 federal election campaign, in Adelaide, Australia on April 1, 2025. AAP Image/Lukas Coch

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he won’t be “throwing the baby out with the bathwater” any time soon when it comes to the nation’s relationship with the United States.

The comments come the day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced that 75 countries globally would be subject to a minimum 10 percent tariff on good entering the States.

For Australia, beef exports suffered the most given America is Australia’s largest beef destination. Aluminium and steel were already subject to a higher tariff announced weeks earlier.

Initially, the Australian prime minister responded strongly, condemning the actions saying it was “not the act of a friend.”

“The administration’s tariffs have no basis in logic and they go against the basis of our two nations’ partnership,” he said.

But speaking on radio on April 4, Albanese adopted a more measured approach.

“It is about our national security, and the defence relationship with the United States is our most important one,” he said.

“So, you can have differences without ’throwing the baby out with the bathwater,' if you like.”

“You need to have a considered, mature, sober response to what is, I think, a very unwise decision, and not the act of a friend, the decision that President Trump announced yesterday. Of course, there is no country in the world that got a better deal than Australia.”

Australia, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand were only exposed to the 10 percent baseline tariff, whereas several other countries were hit with higher ones like Vietnam (46 percent), Taiwan (32 percent), India (26 percent), Japan (24 percent), and the European Union (20 percent along with existing tariffs).

The Trump administration took issue not so much with formal tariff walls established by these countries, but “non-tariff barriers” like regulatory duplication and assessment processes, a practice that can often hold up potential exporters for years while costing tens of thousands, to millions, in fees.

Defence Ties a Tool for Negotiation?

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has hinted at the possibility of leverage both nations’ defence ties in negotiations to bring down the 10 percent tariff.

“We had the ability to talk about the relationship in a more complete way and that is what are the elements that are of interest to the United States?” Dutton told ABC Radio.

“It is the defence relationship which is absolutely critical in this century.”

Albanese echoed the concerns of Defence Minister Richard Marles who called the idea “loose” and “reckless.”

“You don’t use defence as a negotiating tool, which was something that Peter Dutton, I think, a very recklessly suggested yesterday,” the prime minister said.

“Our defence is something that we look to our national interest in.

“It’s not something that you just make a flippant remark like that.”

Academics like the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Business School Professor Richard Holden have been reported as saying it is not unusual for Dutton to suggest bringing the defence relationship to the negotiating table.

Holden has previously stated in UNSW articles that Australia has very little leverage over the United States—it has also dropped most of its tariffs in recent decades.