Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's efforts to secure an exemption from Donald Trump's impending metal tariffs have suffered a setback, with a senior US presidential advisor accusing Australia of "killing the aluminum market." The US President signed an executive order on Monday to impose tariffs of 25% on steel and aluminum imported into the United States, effective March 12.
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02-13, 2025While signing the executive order, Mr. Trump claimed that his tariffs would have "no exceptions, no exemptions," but later clarified that he was "seriously considering" whether these tariffs should apply to Australia. Last year, Australia exported 223,000 tonnes of steel and 83,000 tonnes of aluminum to the United States.
Trump's senior trade and manufacturing advisor, Peter Navarro, dismissed the idea of an Australian exemption on Tuesday. He told CNN: "Australia is killing our aluminum market. President Trump said no, no, we're not going to do that anymore."
The proclamation imposing the tariffs, released after Trump signed the executive order, accused Australia of reneging on a "verbal commitment to voluntarily restrain its aluminum exports to reasonable levels." The proclamation also stated that "U.S. imports of crude aluminum from Australia have also increased substantially, about 103 percent higher in 2024 than the average from 2015 to 2017." These figures are based on dollar values.
In metric tons, Australian aluminum exports to the United States over the past decade have ranged from a low of 22,500 tonnes in 2016 to a high of 268,000 tonnes in 2019. The new tariffs will affect some of America's closest allies. Canada, the largest exporter of steel and aluminum to the US, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau calling the new tariffs "unacceptable" and warning that his country would retaliate. According to the US Department of Commerce, Australia ranked 17th in US steel exports and 8th in aluminum exports over the past decade.
Mr. Navarro, speaking about Australia's aluminum exports to the US, said: "All they've done is flood our market. After Biden let them do that, gave them an agreement that said, 'Don't flood our market. You can have a reasonable amount.' That's what we're dealing with. Our aluminum industry is on its knees."
Prime Minister Albanese and Mr. Trump discussed the new tariffs and a possible exemption for Australia during a phone call earlier this week, but no timeline for a decision has been given.
