Labor brushes off Malcolm Turnbull’s tirade of Donald Trump ahead of tariffs

Both sides of politics have opened up about the impact of Malcolm Turnbull’s latest spat with Donald Trump will have on critical tariff talks.

Labor has brushed off Malcolm Turnbull’s “immature” attacks on Donald Trump saying his spat with the US President will not make a “huge difference” to critical tariff talks.

With the deadline looming for Australia to secure an exemption from a 25 per tax on steel and aluminium exports to the US, the former Liberal prime minister escalated his stoush with Mr Trump on Tuesday and attacked an ABC host who questioned the wisdom of his antagonising comments.

The Albanese Government is yet to secure any carve outs for Australia from the tariffs due to take effect Thursday morning, but both Labor and Coalition figures have downplayed the relevance and impact of Mr Turnbull’s ongoing anti-Trump tirade.

Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull with Donald Trump at the White House during the US President’s first term. Picture: Nathan Edwards

Opposition leader Peter Dutton said it was much more important Anthony Albanese and his ministers pick up the phone and speak to their counterparts.

Mr Trump on Monday called Mr Turnbull a “weak and ineffective” leader after the Australian had said the US President was “chaotic” and was an unreliable ally should China launch an attack in the Pacific.

Mr Turnbull then accused the ABC of cowardice after a radio host questioned the wisdom in drawing Mr Trump’s ire so close to the tariff deadline.

“Has the ABC become so pusillanimous that you’re seriously suggesting that we shouldn’t be free to speak the truth in Australia, for fear of Donald Trump?” Mr Turnbull responded.

Assistant minister Patrick Gorman said Labor was negotiating with the US government in a “mature, respectful way”.

“If others are choosing to do it in an immature way, that’s something for them to justify,” he said.

Mr Gorman said Mr Turnbull had “no role” in the trade talks, and he did not think a former PM talking in the media “makes a huge difference” when the real conversations were happening at multiple levels of government.

“If Peter Dutton thinks it’s unhelpful, maybe he could pick up the phone to Malcolm Turnbull and have a word,” he said.

Mr Dutton said his priority was to protect Australian jobs and industry and he hoped the Prime Minister was successful in securing an exemption from the tariffs.

“We need a steel manufacturing and aluminium manufacturing business industry in this country,” he said.

Health Minister Mark Butler said the government had been making a “strong case” to the US for a tariff carve out.

“We have … a trade deficit with the US,” he said.

“Our exports of steel and aluminium to the US constitute a very small share of the total imports of those two metals into the US market, but they are an important generator of well paying, secure jobs in the US itself.”

Mr Butler said it took the former Turnbull government about nine months to obtain an exemption from similar tariffs introduced by Mr Trump in his first term.

“We know that this is not going to be easy, but … we will continue to press Australia’s national interest in making that case to the US,” he said.