Labor's handwringing, victim-playing diplomacy with Donald Trump puts our pharmaceutical industry at the mercy of his new threatened round of tariffs
The President has firmed up his position saying there would be no more extensions beyond the deadline of August 1 and that tariffs would be imposed unless countries arranged a specific deal before then.
Is this another negotiating tactic from an ever-unpredictable President Trump?
Maybe.
As a trading nation, do we like the idea of tariffs?
No.
As an ally of the US, is this unhelpful in maintaining friendly relations?
Yes.
Was this scenario on the cards - and did Albo & Co drop the ball?
Absolutely.
The potential for US tariffs on Australian exports has been on the cards for months.
And when President Trump announced an extension to the effective implementation date, Australian government representatives should've realised the reprieve was merely temporary and hastened to get this sorted out.
Maybe they did try to sort it out.
But if Australia is sending Kevin Rudd and Penny Wong to make our case then we really aren't sending our best.
Any half savvy US government official would be able to see the compromised and the undergraduate coming a mile away.
In March, Trade Minister Don Farrell postponed his scheduled visit to the US to talk trade and hasn't bothered dusting off that itinerary since.
And there was a window for a deal.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer may be on the ropes domestically – the proud owner of a 13 per cent approval rate – yet even he managed to pull off a tariff exemption from the US.
Mexico and Canada have also received carve outs.
How did Australia fail to make this a priority?
The Coalition has accused Labor of waving the 'white flag' ahead of the tariff deadline.
And it's not hard to form that view.
The US is one of our oldest allies and yet President Trump considered watching a flagpole being erected on his front lawn to be a greater priority than meeting the Australian Prime Minister at the G7.
One wonders whether the Prime Minister skipped the NATO summit mere weeks later to avoid another snub.
At the time of writing, Albanese still hasn't secured a meeting with Trump.
Short of a miracle, I don't see it happening before the August 1 deadline.
Instead, Albanese is jumping on a plane to Beijing this week.
Perhaps, in a domestic political sense, this plays well for the government.
Albanese and Chalmers can now blame any economic hardship and decline in Australia on Trump's tariffs, whether or not they are the cause of that economic hardship.
You'll recall they blamed domestic inflation on the war in Ukraine when the issue was, in fact, excessive government spending and declining productivity.
The imposition of tariffs plays perfectly into Labor's schtick of handwringing and commentating about the economy rather than doing anything that could remove the burden from private sector business and bolster our production.
Jim Chalmers has labelled this recent move as 'very concerning'.
That's it.
No action.
Just an adverb followed by an adjective.
The passivity is agonising.
It's Act 3, Scene 2 of playing the victim.
This is not to give the US a leave pass here.
The proposed 200 per cent tariff on pharmaceuticals is, frankly, egregious.
Big Pharma in the US has enough clout without it crushing whatever competition remains or targeting Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.
Both sides of politics have said the PBS is off limits - and fair enough.
Similarly, a proposed 50 per cent tariff on copper has made Australian producers sit upright and rattled the stock market this morning.
This isn't a call for panic, nor a suggestion that Australia should just roll over for US interests.
But long-term allies should be able to have frank, productive discussions.
There must be a middle ground; one where both countries make reasonable concessions to secure a better long-term outcome for both of us.
Of course, that outcome relies on Australia being governed by leaders, not victims.
We're about to find out if that capability lurks within Albanese and his colleagues.
Caroline Di Russo is a lawyer with 15 years of experience specialising in commercial litigation and corporate insolvency and since February 2023 has been the Liberal Party President in Western Australia.
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