Australia caught in US plans for ‘anti-slavery’ tariffs
The Prime Minister blamed an “ideological disagreement” for the latest round of proposed American tariffs on countries including Australia over US failures to address modern slavery.
The White House is proposing new taxes on 60 countries that it says are not doing enough to combat slavery in their supply chains.
Within the scope of the proposal, it is envisaged that the 10 percent temporary customs duty applied to Australian goods in February will be increased to 12.5 percent as of July 24.
“Australia’s actions, policies, and practices related to its failure to implement and effectively enforce its forced labor import ban are unconscionable and burden or restrict U.S. commerce,” U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in a report released overnight.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Thursday that the tariffs were unwarranted and would only raise prices for U.S. consumers.
“There is an ideological disagreement in which the United States administration is overturning decades of understanding that tariffs are not positive for the country that imposes them,” he told ABC’s AM program.
Trade Minister Don Farrell spoke to Mr Greer on the sidelines of an OECD ministerial meeting in Paris to argue that the new import duty was unfair.
Mr Albanese said Australia had “robust, comprehensive and world-leading” laws to combat modern slavery.
The AAP understands that beef and gold from Australia will retain their current exemptions from US tariffs.
Other American allies such as Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand and the European Union, as well as rivals such as China and Russia, are also included in the latest tariffs.
“The failure of our most important trading partners to address imports of goods made using forced labor is unacceptable… we will no longer tolerate this inequality,” Mr Greer said in a statement on Wednesday (AEST).
Joe Hockey, Australia’s former ambassador to the US, said he had personally argued with Trump over tariff policies and was “not willing to act”.
“America is running out of money and they have to get it from somewhere. And the President of the United States believes that foreigners are paying the tariffs imposed by America, when in fact it is American consumers who are paying the higher prices,” Mr. Hockey told ABC Radio National on Thursday.
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