Deputy prime minister says government has ‘hit the ground running’ with Trump. Follow today’s news live
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Australia should take “at face value” what the prime minister and US president, Donald Trump, have said about potential tariff relief, the deputy prime minister and minister for defence, Richard Marles, has said after his trip to Washington.
Speaking on ABC 7.30 on Tuesday evening, Marles said both Anthony Albanese and Donald Trump had “made clear” an Australian exemption from tariffs put in place under the US administration was under active consideration after their conversation today.
That’s not said lightly … that was the agreement they reached in their conversation this morning which, having spoken with the prime minister himself, he said was very positive, very constructive. And we will obviously now work diligently to put forward our case for those exemptions to apply.
We do roughly over $100bn of trade every year. It’s about two to one in favour of the US. In that sense, having that trade in a manner which is tariff-free is very much in the interests … of the US.
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Source: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/feb/12/australia-politics-live-marles-trade-tariffs-anthony-albanese-peter-dutton-steel-aluminium-question-time-election-campaign-ntwnfb
