‘Trade summit matters to ordinary Aussies,’ Prime Minister declares
A meeting of world leaders in Peru this week will be a significant opportunity for millions of Australians whose jobs rely on global trade, Anthony Albanese says.
A meeting of world leaders in Peru this week will be a significant opportunity for millions of Australians whose jobs rely on global trade, Anthony Albanese has declared ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum.
Stressing the importance of his overseas trip while Australians at home continue to grapple with the cost-of-living crisis, the Prime Minister said the sorts of outcomes achieved in forums like APEC would “make a difference” for constituents.
“For Australia, it’s really important. APEC’s focus is always on trade and we’re a trading nation. One in four of our jobs is trade-dependent,” he said.
“It’s important for them. It’s about their jobs, about their cost of living, about the financial pressures we understand people are under … We don’t trade as something academic, that’s separate from people’s lives. This is about people’s jobs and our national economy.”
Mr Albanese’s first bilateral meeting as part of APEC will be with Prabowo Subianto, the President of Indonesia, with which Australia enjoys nearly $30bn in two-way trade.
Indonesia is Australia’s ninth export market, its biggest market for wheat and cotton exports.
On the potential for a trade war between the US and China after the election of Donald Trump, Mr Albanese said Australia could play a role as a constructive middle power. “We’re trusted, our word matters,” he said.
Mr Albanese has resisted calls to stop over in the US as part of his trip to meet Mr Trump, but said he had already discussed trade with the US leader-elect on the phone.
“I pointed out that … the US has a trade surplus with Australia so it’s in the US interest to trade fairly with Australia,” he said.
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