Australia should prepare for incoming president to make changes to US’s direction and focus on his domestic interests, foreign minister says
The Albanese government has congratulated Donald Trump on his inauguration as US president, but said Australia should be “realistic” about his pledge to implement an “America first” agenda.
Shortly after attending the inauguration in Washington, the foreign minister also sidestepped questions on what Trump’s sweeping and controversial policy platform on trade and social issues could mean for Australia and the work of its diplomats in America.
Penny Wong said she would seek to highlight Australia’s positive contribution to the US economy, but warned that Australia should prepare for Trump to make changes to America’s direction and focus on his domestic interests.
“President Trump has made it very clear he’s going to do things differently. He’s made it clear he’s going to implement an America first agenda. And we should, I think, be realistic about that,” she told ABC Radio National.
In social media posts, she praised the US as “Australia’s closest ally” and said she looked forward to “working together with the new Administration to deliver on our shared interests”.
Anthony Albanese shared a message of congratulations to Trump, tagging his official account on X, the platform owned by Trump ally and billionaire Elon Musk.
“The United States is a great friend of Australia’s. Our alliance has never been stronger. I look forward to working with you on the opportunities and challenges ahead,” Albanese wrote.
The then-Turnbull government in 2018 negotiated exemptions from Trump’s steel and aluminium tariffs during his first term in office. There are concerns his second administration may level similar tariffs on Australian exports.
In a round of TV and radio appearances on Tuesday morning, Wong said she was stressing to US counterparts that Australia imported much more from America than it exported, providing “great value” to its ally, as an argument against tariffs on Australian goods.
“America has had a trade surplus with Australia since President Truman’s time, and it’s around two to one in the US’s favour. And in fact, a great proportion, around half of our exports to the United States go into the American supply chain. So we are a very valued ally,” Wong told ABC TV.
“The point I will keep making over here is that … we have a longstanding economic relationship, [and] that there is a surplus in the US’s favour … So it’s a very beneficial relationship to the United States,” she told 5AA radio.
Wong said the government would “be advocating for Australia’s interest” in any tariff discussions.
“Obviously, those announcements have not yet been made, but what I would say is this relationship matters to our economic interests and to our national security interests,” she said.
But asked about some of Trump’s social policies – including his pledge that the United States would only recognise two genders, male and female – Wong said she wouldn’t pass comment.
“These are matters for the United States, just as, you know, these are matters that Australia has our approach on,” she told Radio National.
“I don’t intend, particularly while I’m here in Washington, to comment on President Trump’s domestic policy announcement.”
Asked how the gender policy could affect government representatives or public servants working with American counterparts, Wong again declined to comment.
“I have a job to do here in Washington, and that is to advocate for Australia’s interests, our security interests and our economic interests, and that’s what I’ll be doing,” she said.
On Monday night, prior to Trump’s inauguration, Albanese also could not guarantee Australia would not be harmed by the new president’s tariff plans, but said he had been buoyed up by a phone call with Trump shortly after his November election win.
“I made the point to President Trump that the United States has enjoyed a trade surplus with Australia since the Truman presidency. It’s been there for a long time and the United States is, of course, a major investor here in Australia and the relationship between our two economies is so important,” Albanese told the ABC’s 7.30 program.
“So, I’m very confident that we will work these issues through because they’re in the interests of both Australia and the United States … I expect that the relationship between Australia and the United States will remain strong.”
United Australia party senator Ralph Babet, a vocal supporter of Trump, posted on his social media “God is back”, “we are back” and “the devil has been cast out” after the new president’s inauguration – which he called “the greatest moment in your lifetime so far”.
