Anthony Albanese says he trusts Donald Trump on defence ties but new polls show dire portrait
Australia’s Anthony Albanese said he trusts Donald Trump to support the two countries’ defence relationship despite the US President’s brutal decline in five new polls.
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Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese said he trusts US President Donald Trump to support the two countries’ defence relationship despite their “different values” on trade, in a final television debate before May 3 elections.
The high cost of living is the biggest concern of voters, according to opinion polls, but the US imposition of 10-percent trade tariffs on long-time ally Australia has elbowed its way into a tight election battle.
Asked if he trusted Mr Trump to have Australia’s back on security, Mr Albanese said: “Yes.” The Australian leader, whose centre-left Labor Party has a narrow lead in the polls over the conservative opposition, said US politicians he met had expressed “universal” support for their defence ties.
“I think that gives us confidence is that it’s in the United States’ interests as well as in Australia’s interest,” he said.
But Mr Albanese said he and Mr Trump had “different views, different values”.
“I support free and fair trade, he doesn’t. He thinks tariffs are the way forward for the United States.”
In 2021, Australia signed an agreement with the United States and Britain that would equip the Australian navy with US nuclear-powered submarines and help balance China’s expanding military might.
The government and conservative opposition both support the deal. Peter Dutton, leader of a Liberal-National Party coalition, said Australia could trust whoever is in the Oval Office.
“We respect the views of the American people. They’ve elected a president.”
The ruling Labor Party has a 52-48 per cent lead over the opposition on a two-party preferred basis, according to the latest Newspoll, indicating the opposition has lost a slight lead it had enjoyed in February.
On defence risks, Mr Albanese said China was the “major power” in the region and was seeking to increase its influence.
“But the relationship is complex as well, because China is our major trading partner, so what we have to do is to invest in our capability,” he said, pointing to Australian efforts to bolster its defence assets and strengthen diplomatic ties in the Pacific.
Opposition leader Dutton has been accused of adopting aspects of the Trump playbook, notably promising to axe tens of thousands of civil service jobs.
But asked if he was now seeking to distance himself from the US leader, he said: “I have not sought to be anybody other than myself.”
A recent poll shows a sharp fall in Australians’ trust in the United States. Only 36 per cent of Australians said they trusted the United States, a drop of 20 percentage points in a year, said the survey released this month by the Lowy Institute think tank.
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TRUMP BATTERED BY BRUTAL POLLS, WORST SINCE WORLD WAR II
President Trump is facing a dramatic drop in his approval, according to five new polls released Sunday — including one that shows he has the lowest ratings for a new presidential term since World War II.
Surveys from CBS, ABC and the Washington Post, NBC, CNN and the New York Times all show Mr Trump’s standing in the public slipping significantly since he started announcing tariffs on all of America’s biggest trading partners.
Mr Trump has tried to reassure the public that the tariff onslaught will lead to Americans paying lower income taxes and be a boon for manufacturing jobs.
“When Tariffs cut in, many people’s Income Taxes will be substantially reduced, maybe even completely eliminated,” Mr Trump teased on Truth Social on Sunday.
“Focus will be on people making less than $200,000 a year. Also, massive numbers of jobs are already being created, with new plants and factories currently being built or planned. It will be a BONANZA.”
In one poll from Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos, Mr Trump’s standing was the lowest of any president in the first 100 days of his term since 1945, with 39 per cent saying they approve of his job performance while 55 per cent disapprove.
Other polls also show a downward trajectory. A CBS News/YouGov survey and a separate NBC News poll pegged Mr Trump’s overall approval rating at 45 per cent, while a New York Times/Siena College poll gauged it at 42 per cent.
CNN pegged Trump with a 41 per cent approval rating — the lowest at the 100-day marker since at least former President Dwight Eisenhower in 1953.
Strikingly, 42 per cent of Americans say they strongly disapprove of Mr Trump’s job performance, NBC News found. Only 26 per cent strongly approve.
WHITE HOUSE DEFENDS ‘STRATEGIC UNCERTAINTY’ OF TRUMP TARIFFS
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Sunday defended US President Donald Trump’s tumultuous tariff policy - which has put global markets on a roller coaster - as a way of creating “strategic uncertainty” that gives Washington the upper hand.
Since returning to the presidency in January, Mr Trump has slapped 10 per cent tariffs on most US trading partners and a separate 145 per cent levy on many products from China.
Beijing has responded with 125 per cent tariffs of its own on US goods. Dozens of countries face a 90-day deadline expiring in July to strike an agreement with Washington and avoid higher, country-specific rates.
“In game theory, it’s called strategic uncertainty, so you’re not going to tell the person on the other side of the negotiation where you’re going to end up,” Mr Bessent told ABC’s This Week news program.
“Nobody is better at creating this leverage than President Trump,” the treasury secretary added.
“He’s shown the high tariffs, and here’s the stick. This is where the tariffs can go. And the carrot is, come to us. Take off your tariffs. Take off your non-tariff trade barriers. Stop manipulating your currency. Stop subsidising labor and capital, and then we can talk.”
Despite Mr Trump saying that there are many deals on the table, details have been scant, and when pressed for clarification, Mr Bessent dodged, only saying some negotiations were “moving along very well, especially with the Asian countries.”
For now, Washington has prioritised discussions with key allies like Japan, South Korea and Switzerland.
Mr Trump said in a recent interview with Time Magazine that Chinese President Xi Jinping had called him to discuss trade between the world’s top two economies, though Beijing again said on Saturday that no trade talks had been held.
Mr Bessent suggested that China might deny ongoing talks because “they’re playing to a different audience.”
On NBC’s Meet the Press, Secretary of State Marco Rubio refused to be drawn on whether Trump and Xi had spoken, emphasising only that it was overall a “high-stakes negotiation.” The president suggested Sunday on his Truth Social platform that because of his tariffs policy, “massive numbers of jobs are already being created, with new plants and factories currently being built or planned.”
Mr Trump told Time that he would announce deals with US trading partners in the next few weeks.
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