Trump’s man attacks Australia’s ‘nonsense’

Donald Trump’s billionaire trade adviser Howard Lutnick has doubled down on his attacks on Australia overnight.

Donald Trump’s billionaire trade adviser Howard Lutnick has doubled down on his attacks on Australia overnight labelling biosecurity laws in the country that ban US beef imports as “nonsense.”

Despite stock market plunges overnight an unrepentant US President took to social media post to liken “Liberation Day” tariffs to an invasive medical procedure, writing all in caps:

“The operation is over! The patient lived, and is healing. The prognosis is that the patient will be far stronger, bigger, better, and more resilient than ever before.”

Mr Lutnick, who is the US Commerce Secretary has rubbished Anthony Albanese’s claims that the laws are to protect Australia from diseases insisting it is simply a protectionist tactic to block American imports.

“Our farmers are blocked from selling almost anywhere. Europe won’t let us sell beef, Australia won’t let us sell beef,” Mr Lutnick said.

The interviewer interjected to say this was “because of hormonal chemicals”.

Lutnick replied: “No, no, that’s not why. It’s because they just wanna protect, they want to say: oh, what, the seeds are different? Other people in the world are using seeds? Come on, this is nonsense. This is all nonsense. What happens is they block our markets.”

Howard Lutnik on CNN.

“When we open those markets ...the price of groceries will come down. Let Donald Trump run the global economy. He knows what he’s doing. Let him fix it. Let Donald Trump fix the US economy.”

Australia bans fresh beef from the US to protect against foot-and-mouth outbreak that could cost Australia $80 billion and Mad Cow disease.

The US buys in fresh beef from central and South America, where outbreaks of these diseases have been reported.

Prime minister Anthony Albanese has warned we won’t back down on biosecurity protections.

“The beef issue was about mad cow disease and about also the fact that beef to Australia couldn’t be guaranteed – whether it had also come from Canada or Mexico as well,” he said at a media conference.

As Australia fights to secure a better deal by offering better access to critical minerals, Mr Lutnick has also warned the US President “won’t back off.”

“I don’t think there’s any chance the President is going to back off the tariffs. This is the reordering of global trade,’’ Mr Lutnick told CNN on Friday AEDT.

“The president is not going to back off. But countries can fix their tariffs, their non-tariff trade barriers, which are much, much rougher. They are the monster that needs to be slayed.

“Then, and only then, will Donald Trump make a deal with each country – when they’ve really, really changed their ways.”

“Negotiate is talking. No talking. Too late. These countries have abused us and exploited us, as he said yesterday. They need to change their ways, let’s see them change their ways. It’s going to be a long time, let’s see what they do. Not talking. Talking is nonsense.”

Mr Lutnick previously come out swinging against Australia as he strongly defended the 25 per cent tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on steel and aluminium

“Look, you’ve got dumpers in the rest of the world. Japan dumps steel. China dumps steel. What that means is they make it, they over produce and they sell it dirt cheap to try to drive our guys out of business,” he said.

“The President is here to protect American workers. He’s here to protect American industry. We’re going to stop that nonsense and bring steel here.

Australia’s secret weapon in tariff fight

Mr Albanese is working on a plan B to get the Trump administration to dump the new 10 per cent tariff on all Australian imports in exchange for guaranteed access to critical minerals.

Despite the decision to slap tariffs on Australia across the board on Thursday, Australian officials believe it may be the beginning of negotiations rather than the end.

Critical minerals are the metals and other raw materials needed for the production of hi-tech products, including artificial intelligence infrastructure, weapons, green energy and consumer electronics.

Energy transition minerals such as cobalt, copper, lithium and nickel are useful for the electrification of transport and the construction of wind turbines and the manufacture of mobile phones.

The 10 per cent tariff rate on Australian products excludes pharmaceuticals and some critical minerals.

Talks with Howard Lutnick

News.com.au understands the US President Donald Trump’s US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick signalled an interest in the idea in talks with Australia’s ambassador Kevin Rudd last month.

The original offer of guaranteed access to Australia’s critical minerals in return for sparing the country’s steel and aluminium exports from tariffs was rejected by the Trump administration.

But Mr Albanese is pressing ahead with using the resources as a bargaining chip in ongoing negotiations.

In a statement, he outlined a five-point plan to respond to the “unwarranted” tariffs.

“A Labor Government will establish a Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve – and I will have more to say on this,’’ he said.

“Our Government will always deal with global challenges, the Australian way.

“Standing up for our national interests, backing our people – and building for the future.”

Australia in a ‘strong position’

Speaking in Melbourne after the President’s announcement at the White House, Mr Albanese confirmed Australia’s access to critical minerals could prove persuasive.

“Australia’s in a strong position. We’ve got the whole periodic table, just about, in this country. That’s a good thing,’’ Mr Albanese said.

Mt Whaleback iron ore mine.

The Prime Minister previously revealed that the government had “put forward a range of propositions” to the US, with Foreign Minister Penny Wong later confirming that this had involved “America gaining more secure domestic supply arrangements” for critical minerals.

Mr Trump himself has been pressuring Ukraine for a critical minerals deal in return for brokering a peace pact with Russia and his interest in Greenland is also in part linked to its potential supply of such minerals.

Dutton backs critical minerals talks

Liberal leader Peter Dutton also picked up with the critical ministerals idea this morning suggesting it’s an area ripe for further talks.

“We have an opportunity, in my judgement, to start negotiations with the United States straight away,’’ Mr Dutton said.

“I think there can be a deal done very quickly with the administration and I think it’s important that the Prime Minister apply himself to that immediately.

“The critical minerals that I spoke about again in my speech in January is an absolute must do in the relationship and the United States to shore up its supply chains requires our critical minerals.

“So, there is a natural point of leverage for us in the relationship. The Prime Minister hasn’t been able to get a call or a meeting with President Trump but that needs to change and he needs to do everything he can to leverage the Ambassador and others to get the relationship normalised.

“It’s obvious that the Prime Minister didn’t know anything about this announcement until it was actually released to the press, which also speaks to the state of the relationship at the moment.”

Peter Dutton. .Picture Thomas Lisson / NewsWire

Mr Trump’s Liberation Day tariff orders triggered stock market chaos across the globe, with $21.4bn wiped from the ASX and the Australian dollar falling.

But Mr Dutton’s suggestion prompted a rebuke from Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong

“Peter Dutton seems to think he’s Superman, but he’s actually Captain Obvious,’’ she said.

“He suggests that this is a time for negotiation. Well, that is what we have been doing. He suggests we should be discussing critical minerals.

“I’m sure he would recall – it’s been quite public – that that is what we have been doing. And we’ll proceed, as the Prime Minister indicated in his press conference today, with creating a strategic reserve, and we’ll have more to say about that.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said one of the most important elements of the five policies that the Prime Minister announced was about helping our exporters find new markets.

“We are responding not with a race to the bottom on tariffs,’’ he said.

“We’re not going for retaliatory tariffs. We are going for more resilience, and that’s what underpins the new announcements that the Prime Minister made today, but also a number of the initiatives in the Budget we handed down not that long ago.”

Originally published as Trump’s man attacks Australia’s ‘nonsense’