Rita Panahi: Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on 180 countries should come as no shock

No one with any knowledge of US politics should be shocked by President Trump imposing tariffs on more than 180 countries. If only our own government was as uncompromising in protecting Australian industries and workers.

Promises made, promises kept. Elections have consequences and no one with any knowledge of US politics should be shocked by President Donald Trump imposing tariffs on more than 180 countries including on Australian imports.

Trump’s entire platform is underpinned by an “America First” philosophy. It’s what the American people voted for and what he is determined to deliver. The president’s mandate is undeniable; he won the election in emphatic style, 312 to 226 electoral college votes, winning every swing state and the popular vote.

Australians may not like our products copping a 10 per cent tariff but that is of little consequence to the White House.

If only our own government was as uncompromising in protecting Australian industries and workers.

Imagine if we had an energy policy that was about putting Australia First. Instead of having some of the highest energy prices in the world – crippling our manufacturing industry and adding significantly to cost of living pressures for households – we would have among the lowest given the enormous amounts of gas, coal and uranium under our feet.

Trump’s entire platform is underpinned by an “America First” philosophy. Picture: Saul Loeb

The US president wants to re-industrialise America; to bring back manufacturing jobs while ensuring the country is energy independent. He has introduced a range of measures to increase energy production and boost business investment including reducing taxes and cutting red tape.

The efforts to boost manufacturing are already bearing fruit, even before the introduction of tariffs, with the US seeing a jump in the number of jobs in sectors like car production.

Don’t expect a drastic change to the current direction with the Vice President a firm believer in the America First strategy. It’s early days, of course, but JD Vance is wildly popular with Right-leaning voters and superbly placed to be the 48th president of the United States.

VP Vance is Trump plus. He shares the president’s political instincts and world view but is an infinitely better politician.

Vance is fiercely intelligent, articulate and relatable despite his enormous success. Vance embodies the American dream, breaking free of his family’s history of trauma, drug addiction and poverty to become an Ivy-league graduate who made millions before entering politics.

JD Vance is wildly popular with Right-leaning voters. Picture: Saul Loeb

Speaking earlier this month he explained the administration’s plans to reform the US economy. “We believe that tariffs are a necessary tool to protect our jobs and our industries from other countries, as well as the labour value of our workers in a globalised market,” Vance said.

“In fact, combined with the right technology, they allow us to bring jobs back to the United States of America and create the jobs of the future.

“When you erect a tariff wall around a critical industry like auto manufacturing and you combine that with advanced robotics and lower energy costs and other tools that increase the productivity of US labour, you give American workers a multiplying effect. Now that, in turn, allows firms to make things here at a price-competitive basis.”

When it comes to globalisation the world view of Trump and Vance is markedly different to the Australian prime minister and opposition leader. This shouldn’t be a shock to anyone who has been paying attention in recent years.

Trump and Vance believe that deindustrialisation poses risks to both America’s national security and its workers.

President Trump is determined to revitalise American manufacturing. Picture: Saul Loeb

Fundamentally, the Trump administration sees globalisation as failing to serve American workers. The addiction to cheap labour has seen manufacturing jobs outsourced to developing countries.

“The idea of globalisation was that rich countries would move further up the value chain while the poor countries made the simpler things …(but) it turns out that the geographies that do the manufacturing get awfully good at the designing of things,” Vance said.

“We assumed that other nations would always trail us in the value chain. But it turns out that as they got better at the low end of the value chain, they also started catching up on the higher end. We were squeezed from both ends.”

Trump was elected promising to resolve the illegal immigration crisis (which he managed to accomplish in a matter of weeks with March figures showing a 94 per cent drop in illegal crossings), he promised to tackle the Left’s politicisation of institutions and the culture (underway on several fronts) and to deliver dramatic economic reforms.

That will undoubtedly see some pain along the way as he disrupts the global world order but no one should be in any doubt about the determination to revitalise American manufacturing.

Rita Panahi is a Herald Sun columnist

Originally published as Rita Panahi: Donald Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on 180 countries should come as no shock