Labor and unions urge Turnbull to fight Trump tariffs

Malcolm Turnbull faces a widening political fight with Bill Shorten and unions over fears of a global trade war.

Port Kembla worker Stephen Davies is worried about the adverse affects any tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. Picture: Simon Bullard

Malcolm Turnbull faces a widening political fight with Bill Shorten and unions over fears of a global trade war sparked by Donald Trump’s sweeping tariffs on steel and aluminium that threaten Australian jobs.

The Opposition Leader, backed by his former employer the Australian Workers Union, yesterday demanded the Prime Minister protect “tens of thousands of local jobs”, describing the US President’s tariffs as a trade war.

AWU national secretary Daniel Walton called for Australia to protect local jobs following Mr Trump’s trade clampdown, while opposition Treasury spokesman Chris Bowen said Australia must look at “all options” to retaliate if cheap foreign steel was dumped in the domestic market.

There remained tempered hope yesterday that a deal could be struck with the US, providing exemptions for individual steel and aluminium manufacturers.

But the Turnbull government last night was not confident it would secure an exemption, ­despite fierce lobbying from Trade Minister Steven Ciobo, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Defence Minister Marise Payne and ambassador to the US Joe Hockey of their US counterparts and Republican Party contacts.

“At this stage, Australia, like the rest of the world, is awaiting clarity to see how we will be affected,” Mr Ciobo said.

Mr Turnbull and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann obtained a pledge from US officials last year that Australia would be exempt from any such action.

Mr Trump’s trade adviser, Peter Navarro, last week said the President would apply steel and aluminium tariffs with “no country exclusions”, but he suggested there could be exemptions for some business.

“There will be an exemption procedure for particular cases where we need to have exemptions, so that business can move forward,” Mr Navarro said.

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said he did not expect Mr Trump to change his mind.

Australian authorities are likely to contact the EU and Canada this week to compare notes.

Mr Walton yesterday warned that US steel and aluminium tariffs could lead to “substantive” Australian job losses, arguing that “protectionist measures” must be considered by the federal government in response to Mr Trump’s shake-up of the global trade system.

The AWU national secretary called on Mr Turnbull to consider the establishment of a “bipartisan taskforce” on how to respond to the US decision to impose tariffs of up to 25 per cent on steel and aluminium imports, refusing to rule out some form of retaliation as a viable government response.

He accused Mr Trump of initiating an “all-out trade war” that he said was “playing out through Twitter”, and he raised the likelihood of the tariffs leading to more cheap Chinese steel being dumped into the Australian market.

“We can’t be the only ones standing here abiding by rules that have since been departed by one of our major trading partners in the US, and obviously China. If we are the only ones abiding by the rules of the game, then we will lose and that will lead to the loss of jobs and loss of industry,” Mr Walton said.

While the EU and Canada have suggested they will fight back with tariffs on US goods, Australia is unlikely to do the same, despite Labor suggesting it might support the government on such a move.

Mr Bowen said there would be ­a “direct impact on Australian ­industry” as we “export about $240 million worth of steel and $70m worth of aluminium to the United States”.

“As I said, the government would have the support of the Labor Party for anything it does to convince the United States, and if that’s not successful then obviously the government would be within its rights to consider what comes next,” he said.

Rio Tinto shares fell 1.47 per cent to $75.73 yesterday, while BlueScope Steel was cut 2.15 per cent to $15.95.

While BlueScope Steel is understood to be confident the measures will not negatively affect the company due to its considerable presence in the US, Rio Tinto said it would continue to lobby US officials.

Mr Shorten turned up the political heat on the government and warned that tens of thousands of local jobs needed to be protected. “We know it’s not just what we import into America which could be affected. If all of this steel coming out of China, Vietnam, Europe, elsewhere, India — if it can’t get into America, it’s going to find a home and be imported somewhere. That is the problem,” he said.

Stephen Davies, a 61-year-old slab caster operator at the Port Kembla steelworks with 38 years’ experience, hoped Mr Trump’s move would not “mess us around too much”.

“Obviously, he’s protecting his own jobs and own interests at the end of the day,” he said. “He’s looking to the future and protecting his own workers. You can’t blame him for that, but it shouldn’t be at the detriment of what we’re doing here in Australia.”

Mr Turnbull is also facing internal pressure from MPs with affected workers in their electorates.

Flynn MP Ken O’Dowd, who has 1000 workers at the Boyne ­Island aluminium smelters in his Queensland electorate, had called Mr Ciobo to talk about the tariffs.

“It’s imperative we get some sort of deal before the pen gets to paper,” the Nationals MP said.

Labor MP Sharon Bird, whose NSW electorate contains BlueScope’s Port Kembla plant, said the new tariffs “could potentially put the 400,000 tonnes that BlueScope exports to the US under threat”.

Assistant Minister for Science Jobs and Innovation Zed Seselja said the anti-dumping regime was being “continuously examined”.

Former Labor trade minister Craig Emerson said Mr Trump was ignoring the lessons of history, and the Smoot-Hawley Tariff of 1932 that deepened the Great ­Depression.

“God help us,” he said.

Former foreign minister Bob Carr said he had been assured by “sources” that Australian steel would be exempt from the tariffs.

Additional reporting: Andrew Burrell, Ben Packham, Cameron Stewart