Prime Minster Anthony Albanese gave a quick response to the US tariffs announcement. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
As tough as the news of United States tariffs might be for Australia, in purely cynical terms, it provides somewhat of a reprieve for those campaigning in the federal election.
From 7 am Thursday (3 April, Australian time), US tariffs imposed on Australia by Donald Trump have been the only political story anyone is interested in reporting or reading/hearing about.
That sentiment lasted all day Thursday and is spilling over into Friday, and there appears to be a lot of life in the issue.
It has allowed political leaders from all sides to focus on the “tariffs situation” and hold off – at least for a day – on any major policy announcements for fear of them being drowned out.
And let’s face it, there’s not a lot of new policies to announce, so why wouldn’t they grab the opportunity to space them out that little bit more?
Anthony Albanese declared the US tariffs to be “not unexpected”. He proved that by how soon after the Trump announcement he appeared before Australia’s media with a lengthy pre-prepared response statement.
“Today’s decision will add to uncertainty in the global economy, and it will push up costs for American households,” the PM said.
“It is the American people who will pay the biggest price for these unjustified tariffs. This is why our government will not be seeking to impose reciprocal tariffs.
“We will not join a race to the bottom that leads to higher prices and slower growth. We will stand up for Australia.
“We will continue to make the strongest case for these unjustified tariffs to be removed from our exporters.
“Our existing free trade agreement with the United States contains dispute resolution mechanisms.
“We want to resolve this issue without resorting to using these, as we do support continued constructive engagement with our friends in the United States.
“Our shared history, our friendship, our alliance, these are all bigger than a poor decision.”
That was a pretty good reaction and one the PM and much of his frontbench repeated in various degrees throughout the day at other appearances.
The PM was able to keep on point by using the tariffs infused campaign day stressing how the PBS isn’t to be messed with.
Pharmaceuticals appear to be exempt from Trump’s tariff regime at this stage.
The Federal Government has also been able to keep stressing that Australia got off lightly with the baseline 10 per cent tariff, compared to some of the whopping tariffs placed on some other countries.
And the phrase “the US is only about 5 per cent of our export markets” was heard throughout the day.
All Labor ministers were on message – despite whatever else they might have wanted to share, US tariffs were the focus.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers even made a point of telling voters that he had asked the Treasury to update the Commonwealth’s modelling on the impact of the tariffs.
“When that modelling is available, I will release it publicly,” he said.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton seized the chance to say the PM has been weak in negotiations with the US over tariffs. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Trump’s tariff trip also allowed Peter Dutton to talk about little more than how “weak” the PM has been over it all.
The Coalition announced some infrastructure promises, but really, all the Opposition Leader wanted to comment on was the tariffs and how he could have stopped them from being imposed.
“I think part of the problem is that the Prime Minister hasn’t been able to get a phone call or a meeting with the President, and there has been no significant negotiation leader-to-leader,” Mr Dutton said.
“So, that has been the significant failing, and we need to be strong and to stand up for our country’s interests, and I think at the moment the Prime Minister is sort of flailing about as to what to do and how to respond.
“But the weakness is not going to get us through a tough negotiation and get us the best outcome for our country … It’s a negotiating position and 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.
“At the moment, I think, as the Prime Minister frankly has demonstrated over the last three years in economic decisions and the reality of life for Australians, it’s been a bad government.
“And a bad government here in Australia is not going to be able to negotiate a good outcome on this free trade agreement when they can’t even reduce the cost of groceries or electricity.”
That was simply a golden opportunity the Opposition Leader couldn’t let slip by. And why would he?
The tariffs and Trump’s so-called Liberation Day also gave Greens leader Adam Bandt one of the best lines of Thursday morning.
“Today should be Australia’s liberation day – when we finally liberate ourselves from being shackled too closely to Trump,” he said in a social media post.
Normal transmission will resume imminently, but all parties have embraced this campaign detour.
