‘Economic self-harm’: Albo lashes Trump’s new steel tariffs

While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Australia is “totally up for” a conversation with the US about increasing defence spending, he is deeply unhappy with its new steel tariffs.

Australia is “totally up for” a conversation with the US about increasing defence spending, while Anthony Albanese urges the Trump Administration to drop new steel tariffs, which he lashed as an act of “economic self-harm”.

The Prime Minister has declared Australia will continue to invest in defence on its own timeline when asked about a call from US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth for allies in the Asia region to raise spending to three per cent of GDP.

Despite the Albanese Government’s reluctance to sign up to such a commitment, Defence Minister Richard Marles on Sunday said Australia is open to having the conversation with the US about raising military spending.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the official opening of the Bridgewater Bridge in Tasmania on June 1. Picture: Linda Higginson

Speaking on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, a major security summit in Singapore, Mr Marles said the Americans had been “very clear about wanting to see more from their friends and allies around the world”.

“It’s a sentiment that we understand,” he said.

“And … that’s a conversation we are totally up for in terms of the way in which we engage with the United States.”

Mr Marles said Australia was at the “beginning” of its journey to lift defence spending.

Also in Singapore, Mr Hegseth warned war in the region could be imminent given China’s outright stated aim of having the capability to take Taiwan by 2027.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Picture: AP Photo/Anupam Nath

On the potential threat to peace in the region posed by China, Mr Marles said the expansion of Beijing’s military was ones of the “key features of the complexity of the strategic landscape” in the Indo-Pacific.

Strategic Analysis Australia director Peter Jennings said Mr Hegseth’s commitment to the security of the region was positive, but he expected the Albanese Government would be less enthusiastic about being pushed to increase defence spending.

“It’s a message it seems (Mr) Albanese doesn’t want to hear,” Mr Jennings said.

“The Americans clearly don’t think we are pulling our weight.”

US President Donald Trump disembarks from Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, after travelling to Pennsylvania to visit a US Steel plant. Picture: Saul Loeb/AFP

Mr Jenkins said it was a “great shame” Australia had got to such a point, with defence spending hovering around 2.05 per cent and projected to reach 2.33 per cent within the decade.

“We’re definitely in the Americans’ sights as needing to increase spending, and that’s pretty much the view of anyone with an independent perspective these days,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Albanese has criticised America’s latest tariff announcement raising the tax on steel imports to 50 per cent, warning it would “increase the cost for consumers in the United States”.

Mr Albanese said the universal nature of the tariff meant Australia would not be comparatively advantaged or disadvantaged.

He is expected to discuss tariffs directly with US President Donald Trump should the pair meet on the sidelines of the G7 summit in mid-June.