Australia will step up its economic and diplomatic engagement with South-East Asia amid concerns Donald Trump’s tariff blitz will impoverish developing nations and drive them towards China, the government says.

As Australia and the world continued to digest the impact of the global trade war unleashed by Trump on Thursday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese played down the prospect of being able to leverage the reliable supply of critical minerals to negotiate away the 10 per cent blanket tariff imposed on Australia, but said discussions would continue.