: Good morning. The United States' decision to impose tariffs on Australian steel and aluminium as part of a global decision are concerning. It has been foreshadowed that no country, regardless of its relationship with the United States, has been granted an exemption. Such a decision by the Trump Administration is entirely unjustified.
This is against the spirit of our two nations' enduring friendship, and fundamentally at odds with the benefits that our economic partnership has delivered over more than 70 years.
Australia has no tariffs on goods from the United States, and of course, we have a free trade agreement with the United States.
Our Government will continue to put forward a very strong case for an exemption, noting that the last time this occurred, it took months for that exemption to be granted.
We will advocate for Australian trade with the United States at every level and through every channel. Australia will continue working hard for a different outcome, and discussions with the Trump Administration are ongoing.
Our Government is prepared and has been engaging directly with the Australian steel and aluminium industry, and we'll continue to work through this with them.
As with other products and resources that Australia has, we will continue to diversify markets for our products which are in demand globally.
Australian steel and aluminium exports to the United States represent less than 0.2 per cent of the total value of our exports. Neither is in the top 10 of what Australia sells to the United States.
Tariffs and escalating trade tensions are a form of economic self-harm and a recipe for slower growth and higher inflation. They are paid by the consumers.
This is why Australia will not be imposing reciprocal tariffs on the United States. Such a course of action would only push up prices for Australian consumers and increase inflation.
We will continue to engage constructively with the United States and to make the case for Australian trade and the benefits that it gives to people in the United States of America.
Around the world and here at home, our Government will always stand up for Australian jobs and Australian industries.
All Australians, of course, can join this effort and support our industries by taking the opportunity to buy Australian and the March Budget will provide additional support for our Buy Australian campaign, which we will be announcing as part of that Budget process.
Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: What efforts has Australia made in the last 48 hours to get the exemption? Have you attempted to have another call with President Trump?
PRIME MINISTER: We have mobilised everything at our disposal, including through our Embassy in the United States, but also through all channels. And we'll continue to do so.
JOURNALIST: Will you try and set up a second call with Trump on tariffs? And if not, why not?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we'll continue to engage in all vehicles. We have continued to put in a request for another discussion with President Trump.
I note that these decisions have been made and have varied at times.
JOURNALIST: Will you be flying over to the US to sort it out?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll be sorting out Australia's interests right here.
JOURNALIST: Do you regret not going over? The French and British counterparts both went over and met face to face.
PRIME MINISTER: And they have tariffs imposed on France and -
JOURNALIST: Do you think that would have been a waste of time?
PRIME MINISTER: No country has been exempted. Not France. Not the United Kingdom.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you were talking about how the tariffs are entirely unjustified and at odds with Australia's relationship with the US. Over the last couple of weeks, and particularly over the last two days, when you became aware tariffs would be imposed, how disappointed, how angry are you with the US President, with the US Administration?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it is disappointing. Australia has a close relationship with the United States. Friends need to act in a way that reinforces, to our respective populations, the fact that we are friends. This is not a friendly act. But it is imposed on every country, is important. So, in terms of the competition aspect, every country - its exports on aluminium and steel into the United States - will have the same tariff, some will be higher.
JOURNALIST: Donald Trump famously loves a deal. What could Australia offer in return for getting an exemption at a later time?
PRIME MINISTER: We have put forward a range of propositions to the United States. We put those forward in good faith. There have been discussions about that. Those discussions are continuing. Diplomacy is best done in that way.
JOURNALIST: Steel is the target now. Do you fear agriculture?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, you follow these things, just as everyone does. We will continue to advocate for Australia's national interest. In the US Administration, President Trump has been elected. He is putting forward these proposals. I make the point that Australia has products that are in demand around the world. We get through these issues just as we did - got through other issues in the past. But Australia has resources that are in demand. And we'll continue to engage constructively with the United States.
JOURNALIST: What does it say about Kevin Rudd's effectiveness? Can you send another Ambassador?
PRIME MINISTER: Kevin Rudd's a very effective Ambassador.
JOURNALIST: Just a question on Yunupingu Native Title decision. Given the Government has spent most of this term campaigning for the rights of Indigenous Australians, why did it appeal this decision about the rights of Indigenous Australians all the way to the High Court?
PRIME MINISTER: Because we made that decision that that was in our interest to provide certainty.
JOURNALIST: Mr Albanese there are fears that that Donald Trump will create a global recession with his tariff war. Isn't this a little worse than disappointing? Isn't this, in fact, destructive?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what is important, that sort of language is not constructive for Australia's relationship. What I'll continue to do is engage in a constructive way. I'll leave the hyperbole to yourself and others.
JOURNALIST: Will you be looking at charging the United States to use defence bases in Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we will engage constructively with the United States. It is in Australia's interest to have the defence relationship that we have with the United States. It is also in the United States' interests. We will continue to point out that the United States' interests are not served by today's decision.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Donald Trump will tell you one thing and then do something completely the opposite shortly after. Do you have to deal with trepidation here? Are you concerned about how things are - he's been in power three months?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, he hasn't. It's been six weeks, actually.
JOURNALIST: It feels like a year.
PRIME MINISTER: It's been six weeks. And that's why, in our statement, we very clearly have said we'll continue to engage constructively. We'll continue to advocate for Australia's interests.
JOURNALIST: But is there an erratic behaviour here? That's what I'm suggesting.
PRIME MINISTER: It took many months last time around for the exemption to be granted to Australia. Now, I will continue to act in Australia's national interest, and I'll continue to talk Australia up. And the products and resources that we have for the world - I'll talk them up. I'll leave the talking down to the other side of politics, which is not in Australia's national interest.
JOURNALIST: Do you think this move breaches the US Free Trade Agreement, and if you do think that, will you take action at the World Trade Organisation? And sorry to add one on, but can I just get your reflections on the revelations on Mondays to do with the caravan and the antisemitic attacks?
PRIME MINISTER: Okay, seamless segue there, from one or the other. Look, can we stick to this and then I'll come back there, how about that? Look, we will continue to advocate for Australia's interests. I think that people who've been watching over the last six weeks would regard - we don't regard this as a final decision. We will continue to advocate. The last time around, as I have said, it took months. And at that time, the Labor Party in Opposition backed in the Government of the day, backed in the Australian Government, didn't engage in the sort of commentary that I've seen. The Opposition, with their opportunistic cheering against Australia's national interest. This is a time where everyone should be advocating for Australia's national interest, Australian jobs and Australian industries. And that's what I'll do.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, I have a question about the caravan.
PRIME MINISTER: Okay, is there anything else on this first?
JOURNALIST: What were the propositions that we made to try and sweeten the deal for the US? And did they give us any reasons beyond what's been said publicly about why those were insufficient?
PRIME MINISTER: There were propositions that were put in writing to the United States. And we'll continue to engage on them.
JOURNALIST: And what do you say to those people that say you needed to personally go over and lobby with Donald Trump?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, who?
JOURNALIST: Sorry, there are definitely questions. I mean, given the result, obviously, wouldn't it have been better -
PRIME MINISTER: Every country has exactly the same non-exemption granted. Every country. France, the UK. Every Country.
JOURNALIST: But when he was considering -
PRIME MINISTER: Every country has that. And I do find it somewhat ironic that some - you haven't named them, but the Liberal Party, you should name them - have said that I should go to NATO, I should go to Ukraine again, I should go to Israel, I should go to the United States, I should go a range of times, at the same time as they've criticised me whenever I leave Australia.
JOURNALIST: Are you disappointed that requests to have a second phone call with Trump couldn't be fulfilled? Friends should pick up the phone, shouldn't they?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we've engaged. We've engaged, including through writing, including at senior levels of the Government. People would be aware, the Treasurer, the Trade Minister, a range of people - the Foreign Minister - have all visited, and all have all engaged.
JOURNALIST: Mark Butler said it is bad for our relationship. Would you go as far as saying that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it quite clearly is not a positive step in the relationship. It's as simple as that. I think Australians will look at this decision and will be concerned that our friends in the United States have chosen to impose these tariffs on Australia, given that Australia does not impose tariffs on the United States. It is also a fact that this increases costs for US consumers. You can't, overnight, change the amount of aluminium or steel that is produced in the United States. So, therefore, this decision just increases costs for imports into the United States, which will continue, and those costs will be paid by Americans, not by Australians. A company like BlueScope employs 5,000 people in the United States, across a range of states, right now. It's engaged constructively with the United States, and that is one of the arguments that we will continue to put forward as we continue to advocate. Other questions.
JOURNALIST: On the caravan plot, the AFP have noted that investigators knew almost immediately it was a fake terrorism plot. When were you informed that this was the lead theory, and was that before or after you condemned it as terrorism?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I was informed appropriately by the AFP. And what I did was engage and support the AFP, not engage in the sort of nonsense that we saw from the Coalition. You had a Leader and a Deputy Leader who, in Question Time in Parliament, I called for them to get briefed by the AFP and by our security agencies. I have known for some time what the AFP thought and what the ASIO and our security agencies thought about the events that occurred, including the caravan. What I chose to do - in spite of some of the media commentary and in spite of the criticism of the Opposition - was to act in our interests, back our security agencies, back the Australian Federal Police and allow them to do their job. And that is what responsible leadership looks like, not the commentary that we saw from members of the Coalition.
JOURNALIST: On that same topic if it's possible, the revelation on Monday, looks like an incredibly elaborate plot, the caravan was a hoax. Jewish leaders said yesterday that they're concerned that while that was a hoax, that could be used as ammunition for people to call fake on the legitimate instances of antisemitism in Australia. What do you make of those fears?
PRIME MINISTER: It was a hoax, and the police have done a thorough and full investigation. They gave full briefings in appropriate forums, and briefings were available to others who chose not to receive them. And I make this point, though, the fact that it was a hoax does not mean that it didn't create fear for the Jewish community. It did. So, whilst it was a hoax and the motivation was about criminal activities and not related to those issues, the fear that it created was very real. And that is absolutely understandable, that people felt that fear.
JOURNALIST: Just on the Native Title decision, does that open the door for compensation, billions in compensation?
PRIME MINISTER: The decision is, of course, not a final decision. There'll be a whole court process arising out of this. We allow legal processes to take their course. That is what is appropriate. Thanks very much.
