Brisbane news live: Dutton would deliver the same attitude as Trump: Michaelia Cash
Foreign Minister Penny Wong says she made the case for Australia’s continued free trade with the US during meetings with key stakeholders while in Washington for President Donald Trump’s inauguration last month.
Wong told Seven’s Sunrise we “shouldn’t be surprised” that the US has imposed tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China, but that she had promoted the US’s trade surplus with Australia in her meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
She said that status puts Australia in “a strong position to navigate what will be a lot of change in the global markets”.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Secretary of State Marco Rubio met shortly after Rubio was sworn in at the US State Department in Washington.Credit: AP
Asked on ABC News Breakfast if Australia should be reaching out to allies such as Canada to express support in a trade war with the US, Wong said Australia had to navigate the world “confidently and with our eyes open”.
“President Trump has said he will do things differently, and he is doing things differently.”
Further questioned on the likelihood of pushback against Trump from like-minded countries, including Canada, Germany, France, Britain and Australia, as was seen during Trump’s first term, Wong said she was a “realist”.
“The president is implementing the agenda he was elected to implement. I appreciate there is a lot of commentary about it, but I am a realist. Our government will navigate this just as we have navigated the years since we have been elected to government, including strengthening and deepening our relationship with the United States.”
Wong also appeared on Nine’s Today, where she noted that US representatives were “certainly receptive to the facts and figures” she presented on Australia’s trade relationship with the US during her Washington meetings.
