Donald Trump’s decision to slap tariffs on Australian steel and aluminium is “entirely unjustified” and “not a friendly act”, Anthony Albanese says, after the Labor government failed to receive the exemption the US president had dangled in a call last month.
The Australian prime minister said his government would continue pushing for an exemption to the 25% tariffs, calling the trade barriers favoured by Trump “a form of economic self-harm”, in his strongest criticism of the American president since he returned to office.