‘We Need to Approach It Sensibly’: Dutton on Trump Tariffs

Trump imposed a 10 percent baseline tariff on trading partners and bigger reciprocal tariffs on China, the European Union, and multiple other nations.

Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton talks to media at the Coffee Commune during a visit in Brisbane, Australia on Feb. 17, 2025. AAP Image/Jono Searle

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has continued to press the Labor government amid the Trump administration’s worldwide “Liberation Day” tariffs that have impacted 75 nations.

Dutton, who is vying to be Australia’s next prime minister in the upcoming May 3 election, continued to apply pressure to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese blaming his struggle to arrange a phone call with the U.S. president.

The comments come after President Trump announced an executive order imposing a 10 percent tariff on all U.S. trading partners from April 5 at midnight.

While Australia faces the same 10 percent tariff as the United Kingdom, multiple nations including China, Japan, and the European Union are subject to much harsher reciprocal tariffs.

Although Trump praised the Australian people, he criticised the country’s agricultural trade policies, arguing that the United States must also protect its farmers.

“Well Australians are wonderful people, wonderful everything, but they ban American beef. Yet, we imported 3 billion dollars of Australian beef from them just last year alone,” he said.

“They won’t take any of our beef, they don’t want it because they don’t want it to affect their farmers. And you know what? I don’t blame them. But we are doing the same thing right now starting midnight tonight I would say.”

Trump argues that global tariffs will ensure fair trade, protect American workers, and reduce the trade deficit by asking other countries to “follow the golden rule on trade: treat us like we treat you.”

Time to ‘Negotiate Hard’: Dutton

In response, Dutton told 2GB radio that Australia needs to “negotiate hard” with the U.S. administration on Australia’s behalf.

“The U.S. requires Australian beef. It’s not just that we are great producers and have found an export market—they can’t produce enough beef to satisfy domestic consumption,” Dutton said on 2GB.

“This is why I say we need to approach it sensibly, but we need to have a position here in Australia which is going to be taken seriously by the President and by the Americans.”

Dutton expressed his willingness to work with Albanese in terms of sending a clear message to the U.S.

“I am happy to stand shoulder to shoulder with the prime minister to make sure we send a very clear message to the Americans that we don’t find [these tariffs] acceptable at all,” he said.

China will face a 34 percent tariff on top of the 20 percent already imposed, while the European Union will be subject to a 20 percent tariff. Japan faces a 25 percent tariff, Israel 17 percent, Philippines 17 percent, Cambodia 49 percent, and Malaysia 24 percent.

Dutton also expressed concerns about the Chinese Communist Party’s apparent support for the Albanese government.

“At the same time, the president of the Chinese Communist Party is praising Anthony Albanese as their preferred candidate for the next election. As the prime minister has rightly pointed out, we live in the most precarious period since 1945,” Dutton said.

Albanese Says Multiple Channels Explored

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has maintained that his government presented their case to the United States “very strongly.”

“We will continue to put our case for what we regard as a reciprocal arrangement for our products to be tariff-free, just as products into Australia from the United States are tariff-free,” Albanese told reporters.

“Importantly, the United States does enjoy a historical trade surplus with Australia.”

Albanese said his government had made representations through various channels, including ministerial contact, the ambassador, the embassy, and departmental officials.

However, he described the tariffs as totally unwarranted and not the act of a true ally.

“President Trump referred to ’reciprocal tariffs.' A reciprocal tariff would be zero, not 10 percent,” Albanese said.

“The administration’s tariffs have no basis in logic and they go against the basis of our two nation’s partnership. This is not the act of a friend.”