Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is using Malcolm Turnbull’s argument that Australia is one of the few nations to have a trade surplus with the US, in an attempt to dissuade Donald Trump from imposing tariffs of up to 20 per cent on imports from its Pacific ally.

When Mr Turnbull was prime minister during Trump’s first term in power, he convinced the US president to drop plans to hit Australian steel and aluminium imports with 25 per cent tariffs as well as quotas by pointing to the trade surplus. Mr Albanese indicated on Tuesday that his government would adopt the same approach.