Former adviser Mick Mulvaney’s White House intel on tariffs

Donald Trump’s first-term White House chief of staff Mick Mul­vaney has given hope on tariff ­exemptions, noting that the US Defence ­Department needs to buy raw ­materials from Australia.

Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney at the summit in Canberra. Picture: Universities Australia / X

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Donald Trump’s first-term White House chief of staff Mick Mul­vaney has given hope on tariff ­exemptions, noting that the US Defence ­Department needs to buy raw ­materials from Australia.

He also offered insights into the US President’s relationship with Elon Musk, his views on Gaza and his approach to tariffs.

Asked about America’s intention on tariffs, he told a panel at the Universities Australia ­Solutions Summit, chaired by The Australian’s editor-in-chief, Michelle Gunn, that “I’ve seen this dynamic play out exactly like this before. Peter Navarro was also trade adviser during the first Trump administration and he said the same thing.

“There was a little more balance on the team back then. You had free traders such as myself … and that element is not there as much in my party anymore. My party is much more protectionist than it was even 10 years ago.

“I think you’re right to worry about it, but I think the logic still applies, which is the stuff we buy from you guys, we don’t make, so there is no domestic industry to protect.

“One of the largest consumers of what we buy from you is our Defence Department. That was the logic that prevailed when the exemptions went out in 2017 and that logic still applies.”

Former Australian ambassador to Washington Arthur Sinodinos told the summit he was not sure if the White House would grant Australia tariff exemptions because Mr Trump “believes the revenue is raised from foreigners, not from your own consumers”.

He also said: “I’m optimistic about AUKUS, about ANZUS, about the Quad. I think those relationships are still very good.”

Mr Sinodinos said he would like to see Mr Musk play a role in AUKUS to improve efficiency.

“Musk has some great ideas about efficiency, we should be harnessing them to do things like reform the procurement rules in the Pentagon,’’ he said. “I would love to see him actually play a role in the delivery of things like AUKUS because of supply chains and logistics – I think it can be ­harnessed.’’

Mr Mulvaney said Mr Musk, who heads Mr Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, was “obsessed with efficiency’’.

“He will try to drive that brutal sort of efficiency that he brings from the private sector to the ­government, but that’s oil and water – government doesn’t do ­efficiency,’’ he said.

“They need each other very badly, Musk and Trump. Trump can’t afford to have a falling out with Musk because then Musk will attack Trump on Twitter, which would absolutely crush Trump.

“And I don’t think Musk can afford a falling out with Trump because Trump would tell his people not to buy Teslas, and right now the only people in the States buying Teslas are conservatives. There’s this mutually assured ­destruction.’’

Mr Mulvaney predicted that Mr Musk would fail to make promised cuts to the US bureaucracy. “It’s nearly impossible to fire a federal worker,’’ he said.

“A lot of the things Elon is doing you can do in the private sector, but you can’t do in the public sector, which is one of the reasons they haven’t saved nearly the money they thought they would.

“But there are places where efficiencies can work in supply chain and procurement.’’

Mr Mulvaney said he thought Mr Trump’s announcement that the US would take over Gaza was “completely ad hoc’’.

“I know when Trump is reading off the teleprompter and when he’s not,’’ he said. “That was not part of the plan.’’

Mr Mulvaney said he recently dined with a Pentagon official who “expects it to take at least five and up to 10 years just to clean out the unexploded bomb ordinance” in Gaza. “Tell me what will happen in Gaza when it takes 7½ years just to make it safe for people to walk on the ground,’’ he said.

Mr Mulvaney also said he was horrified to learn of anti-Semitism at some of America’s Ivy League universities.

“A lot of people in my country didn’t realise until after October 7 how far to the left our universities had gone,’’ he said.

“The response to the October 7 atrocities really brought it into the living rooms for a lot of ­Americans.

“There are some universities that have lost their way, where it’s not OK to be Jewish.

“I thought anti-Semitism was something that was gone, from past generations.’’

Mr Sinodinos told the summit that Mr Trump has “the equivalent of unfettered power at the moment’’.

“He wouldn’t mind having a third term or being president for life because that’s what (Chinese leader) Xi (Jinping) and (Russian President Vladimir) Putin have got and they seem to be the comparators,’’ he said.