BHP Billiton CEO flags step up in Samarco compensation program

BHP’s chairman says Trump’s mooted trade tariffs on China would bring “complete trauma” for the world.

Mr Nasser said he did not think Trump’s entire tariff plan would be put in place. Picture: AP.

Departing BHP Billiton chairman Jac Nasser says the world will be in “complete trauma” if US president-elect Donald Trump puts in place the 45 per cent trade tariffs on China that he flagged during his election campaign.

“I can’t explain Donald Trump,” Mr Nasser, a former Ford chief who splits his time between the US and Australia, said at today’s BHP annual general meeting in Brisbane.

“The whole world would be in complete trauma if tariff levels of that size and magnitude are put on across the board,” he said.

But Mr Nasser said he did not think the plan would all be put in place and that more about Mr Trump’s intention would become known as he made key cabinet appointments.

“I think what you have seen is quite a bit of rhetoric, some of which will happen and some of which won’t,” he said.

“Some of the policies that have been listed...will probably be moderated.”

Earlier, BHP chief Andrew Mackenzie said he hoped Mr Trump wouldn’t abandon the COP21 climate accord signed in Paris.

“We do hope that President Trump doesn’t actually tear up the agreement of US support that President Obama and Xi Jinping forged.....because we see this as a strong foundation for future action,” Mr Mackenzie said.

It came after BHP Billiton chief executive Andrew Mackenzie said the company will step up compensation payments for people affected by last year’s tailings dam disaster at its half-owned Samarco iron ore operation in Brazil, which killed 19 people.

Speaking at a closed shareholder briefing ahead of the AGM, Mr Mackenzie said that from the beginning of next year, a “much more intensive compensation” program would take place.

Mr Mackenzie did not link the step-up to recent criminal charges laid against current and former BHP (BHP) employees, including former iron ore bosses Jimmy Wilson and Marcus Randolph, and the threat of up to $50 billion of fines from Brazilian prosecutors.

“We reject outright the charges levelled against those individuals and the company,” he said.

“We will defend them ... give support to each of the individuals ... in what we think are unreasonable charges against them.”

He said an investigation had shown there was no one major cause for the breach.

“The failure couldn’t be pinned to one particular problem or mistake, it came up with a number of factors around how the operation had been conducted since the dam was in place,” he said.

“There’s lots of things we can learn from this ... we can build that into the way in which these dams are managed around the world.”