Former prime minister Scott Morrison says a 10 per cent tariff on Australian exports to the United States seems primarily a tool to raise revenue, and so compromising on trade barriers that US firms complain about may be a wasted offer to avoid it.

After Australia was hit with a baseline 10 per cent tariff out of Donald Trump’s “liberation day” blitz last week, the Albanese government has remained hopeful that its offer of preferential access to critical minerals may afford exporters an exemption in future. Nations such as the United Kingdom, Brazil and Ukraine were also hit with the baseline figure.