Arthur Sinodinos, Australia’s former ambassador to the US, says Donald Trump’s hold on tariffs at 10 per cent is the best Australia could have hoped for, but warns tariffs increasing around the world could still hit Australia economically.
“It’d be wonderful if it could have been wound back, but the result is the best in the circumstances that we can hope for,” he told Sky News. “This is a good outcome for now. It could have been worse.”
Arthur Sinodinos, Australia’s former ambassador to the US, in February.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone
“But frankly, what we’ve got to worry about is the tariffs are going up all over the world. We get to see the impact of tariffs in terms of … China, and what that will mean for one of our major trading partners, and the impact that that will have on us.”
He said Australia probably wouldn’t get anything lower than 10 per cent, and the Albanese government would have likely calculated the cost of what it might have had to give up to secure a lower rate as not being worth it.
“The reality in Washington is that the Trump administration wanted tariffs to go up. There’s a minimum of 10 per cent tariff, and that’s where we’ve ended up,” he said.
“We deserve a better outcome, but this is the outcome that we’re going to get, and we’re going to have to live with it … some countries will have to live with much higher rates, and that’s going to be tough.”
Sinodinos said Australia’s lifting of the US beef import ban last week might have helped placate Trump and contributed to today’s decision. But he said the messaging from the Albanese government was that the decision was made independent of trade negotiations.
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