Election 2025: Palmer says he knows what Trump wants on tariffs

Clive Palmer says he has been told by confidants of Donald Trump what the US President wants from Australia in exchange for dropping a 10 per cent tariff.

Trumpet of Patriots chair Clive Palmer says he knows what US President Donald Trump wants from Australia on tariffs. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

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Billionaire miner and chair of political party Trumpet of Patriots Clive Palmer says he has been told by confidants of Donald Trump what the US President wants from Australia in exchange for dropping a 10 per cent tariff.

“Apologise. What [Anthony Albanese] needs to do is apologise for the comments he made about the President. You might think this is minor but it’s an important thing if you know Trump,” Mr Palmer said.

The Prime Minister took a veiled swipe at Mr Trump’s handling of economics last week, saying he understood in year 7 that border taxes hurt the country that imposed them more.

“Kevin Rudd called President Trump ‘the village idiot’. If you were the President of the US and you were called the ‘village idiot’ by the ambassador, you wouldn’t be too happy with that. I think Don­ald Trump remembers that so it’s very appropriate that the ambassador also apologise and on behalf of Australia. Rudd should probably resign,” he said.

Mr Palmer, who funded a two-week speaking trip to Australia for Trump supporter and television host Tucker Carlson last year, said there was also animosity towards the Albanese government from the Trump camp because of a controversial delay in granting the President’s son a travel visa to Australia in 2023. Visas for high-profile people usually take longer to clear national security vetting.

“It was a fiasco when Donald Trump’s son wanted to visit Australia. All of the politicians argued whether they would issue a visa or not. Australia should apologise about that. If it was your son and you were standing for president and everyone’s against you and don’t think you’re going to get elected president and you’re under threat from lawfare, you won’t forget at that time when people come out and kick you,” Mr Palmer said.

US President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order on reciprocal tariffs on April 2. Picture: AFP

The billionaire, who once owned a cattle herd in western Queensland before buying up 200 quarter horses with US bloodlines, said Australia also needed to drop “fake” biosecurity rules that prevented American beef from being imported to Australia.

“Mad cow disease was in the US in 2006 but the reality is it has been certified as being eradicated. Other countries had the same biosecurity concerns in 2006-07, but they’ve all gone through the testing and there has been no cases ever since. So Australia’s really using it to keep out competition.

“The demand for beef in the US is very high, they need our exports. It’s unlikely we’ll be getting any beef from them anyway.

“If you’re friends, you should treat each other equally. I think if Australia could give the same rights of entry to US beef that we enjoy to the US, that would go a long way to helping the tariffs.”

The major US beef lobby, Nat­ional Cattlemen’s Beef Association, in March said the US should consider implementing volume-based safeguards on fresh and frozen imports of beef from Australia and initiate a full audit of Australian animal health standards for cattle and beef products.

“This should also take into account the rate of rejected shipments at US Customs over the past five years, and if necessary, increase inspection rates to 100 per cent until audits are conducted to confirm systemic problems have been resolved.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Sunday said standards on imported beef were not for the turning. “We will not compromise on Australia’s biosecurity,” she said.