Australia pushing for total tariff relief in US talks
Australia will not leave any stones for a full tariff exemption while turning to the US capital for important talks.
Penny Wong will fly to Washington on Monday before the Fourth Foreign Minister meeting with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as ministers from India and Japan.
The visit, which will include one -on -one speech with Mr. Rubio, represents a primary opportunity for Australia as all the US trade partners have made their case for exemptions from President Donald Trump’s tariff regime.
The UK was able to make an agreement to ensure that steel and aluminum exported to the United States was subject to 25 percent tax rather than the 50 percent tariff rate applied to the same goods from other US trade partners.
However, Australia is targeted higher and will put forward its case for total tariff exemption.
“10 (percent) should not be, it should be zero,” he said to journalists in Canberra on Monday.
“We interact with everyone in the United States.
“We have clearly put forward our arguments and we will continue to do so.”
In the first period of Mr. Trump, Australia – along with other nations – managed to provide full exemption on metal tariffs, but the Republican was much less liberal with his exemptions this time.
The meeting with senior US officials comes to meet Mr. Trump at the G7 Summit in Canada in early June.
However, due to the situation in the Middle East, negotiations were canceled in eleven hours.
Australia is trying to abolish US economic sanctions, a 10 percent tariff applied to all exports and a 50 percent tariff tariff for steel and aluminum.
However, the Prime Minister may soon have the chance to sue with the US President, because Cabinet Minister Tanya Plbersek said he expects a “appropriate time” to be approved for the government’s meetings.
The four -summit coincides with calls from the US to raise defense expenditures to 3.5 percent of GDP.
Australia is currently expanding its defense budget by 2.3 percent by 2033/34 and the federal government is making companies in spending commitments.
The debate on defense expenditures comes as a report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute published on Monday.
The report requested that research safety be given at the same level as foreign intervention and espionage for defense priorities.
“Foreign states actively targeted Australia’s research ecosystem by trying to influence the agenda of research, to remove sensitive information and to benefit from corporate security deficits,” he said.
“However, the threat view was not static, developed and quickly.”
The report said that research safety will be even more important as AUKUS partnership between Australia, USA and Britain develops.
Meanwhile, while Mr. Albane was preparing to travel to China, Ambassador Xiao Qian wrote an idea that “the dramatic increase of military expenditures has put a heavy financial burden on the concerned countries”.
“Some countries are demanding the medical bill, which seems to be almost a ridiculous concept to their allies and partners,” he said in the article published in Australia on Monday.
“China calculates only 1.5 percent of the GDP of military expenditures and remains a defensive national defense policy,” he said.
“Paling is well below the global average and compared to some hegemons or allies and partners.”
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