Australia will continue advocating for free trade amid a looming trade war between the US and China, as Anthony Albanese jets off to the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Brazil.
Speaking at the APEC Summit in Lima before flying to Rio de Janeiro for the G20, the prime minister was spruiking Australia as a renewable energy superpower.
Mr Albanese might meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Brazil, where climate change action is expected to dominate talks.
President-elect Donald Trump has suggested the US will impose tariffs on imports between 10-20 per cent and up to 60 per cent on Chinese goods.
The prime minister said he would continue to push for an exemption on Australian products, pointing to the US enjoying a trade surplus.
“The role that Australia can play is to be a strong, consistent advocate for markets, for free and fair trade, for jobs to be created,” he told ABC’s Insiders on Sunday.
“Trade has not just benefited the industrialised nations like Australia, to be able to export our resources, export manufactured goods, export services such as education.
“It’s also lifted up in this region, literally tens of millions of people out of poverty.”
UNSW Professor Peter Swan questioned the impact on the relationship with Washington, with Mr Albanese being “so out of step” with the US on resolving the conflict in the Middle East as well as energy and climate policies.
“We’re further and further away from the US, just at the strategic time where when our ability to defend ourselves probably at the lowest point ever … so we’re choosing the worst possible time to be very offensive towards the US,” he told AAP.
Prof Swan said the uncertainty created by Mr Trump was part of his bargaining strategy, to dangle bad outcomes in front of his opponents in a bid to get a better deal.
Economics Professor Richard Holden said with the election of Mr Trump, the G20 would be a bit of a “fizzer” with current US President Joe Biden a “lame duck”.
“These meetings are always a little bit of a talkfest but it seems likely to be even more so this time and there’s important things there,” he said.
“President-elect Trump’s shadow will be cast over the whole thing.”
