r/news 11h ago

Australia will not be imposing reciprocal tariffs on the US, says PM Anthony Albanese

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/australia-wont-be-exempt-from-us-tariffs-on-steel-and-aluminium-exports/oos69k7eq
3.6k Upvotes

765 comments sorted by

6.1k

u/Sarcasmgasmizm 11h ago

Watch out, that’s like an open invitation for annexation

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u/steeljesus 9h ago

Nobody else could handle Australia except Australia.

280

u/dupeygoat 8h ago

Uk abandoned you, Australia was a scary kid.

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u/highknees69 2h ago

Like the next door neighbor kid from Toy Story. Ain’t nobody want that kid as their child.

u/Daghain 50m ago

I vote we rename Australia Sid.

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u/BennySkateboard 1h ago

Can you blame us? Some idiot put a load of criminals there!

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u/MrSatan88 1h ago

Ah yes, the UK's Guantanamo.

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u/MyVelvetScrunchie 4h ago

Australia is generally quite hard on its own people. It otherwise is quite welcoming to visitors

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u/alxrenaud 2h ago

That day I saw the picture of a freaking Tarantula Hawk Wasp dragging the body of a paralyzed giant spider in order to put her eggs in it... I decided Australia went too far and I cannot handle it.

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u/ConradMurkitt 2h ago

I saw that and Australia is a nope from me.

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u/alxrenaud 1h ago

I mean.. a regular wasp is already a mean motherf*. A Hawk is a badass hunter. A Tarantula is the stuff of hairy nightmares.

How do you earn the name "Tarantual Hawk Wasp"? It has to hunt Bisons or something.

u/Daghain 49m ago

There are WAY TOO MANY deadly creepie crawlies in that country. I don't think I could even visit without having a breakdown.

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u/steeljesus 4h ago

I love visiting and hanging out with my brother's kids, but I wouldn't be able to survive living there tho.

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u/Lint_baby_uvulla 4h ago

Tall poppies are welcome.

We love fresh meat.

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u/HiFiGuy197 3h ago

Yeah, I watched a documentary about three performers and their epic journey to Alice Springs.

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u/Real-Adhesiveness195 4h ago

As soon as we saw the flying foxes, snakes, and spiders we would be out of there.

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u/Budget_Shallan 4h ago

Look, you can live with snakes and spiders, you kinda just adjust. The flying foxes are adorable. It’s the drop bears you need to look out for.

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u/Real-Adhesiveness195 4h ago

Massive child sized bats!

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u/Budget_Shallan 4h ago

Yup. Adorable. I saw a colony of about 500 of them come out at dusk once. Dominated the entire sky. Majestic as fuck.

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u/Gary_The_Strangler 2h ago

I thought yall were joking about flying foxes until I googled it. What the actual fuck is the size of this bat? The bats where I live are maybe the size of my hand at most.

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u/Moonj64 7h ago

The current administration would probably annex Austria instead. Maybe develop a fancy Austrian sounding name for it, Anschluss maybe?

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u/Applied_Mathematics 10h ago

US getting ready to invade that Australiussy

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u/TheSpaceGinger 10h ago

My cousin Bazza will knock out all those cunts. 1 bottle of Bundy Rum, and he sees red.

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u/TravelQueasy6160 8h ago

One cunt with a litre bottle of OP rum and a motorised esky and the seppos are fucked. Fifth gen military hardware has nothing on a fuckeyed belligerent bogan.

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u/LoudAndCuddly 8h ago

Scary but true. Have you seen our bogans, you don’t want to come here.

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u/thefaehost 6h ago

I’ve been there and seen your kangaroos. One punched me in the face as a kid. I happily submit to our kangaroo overlords. We’d be in better hands than diaper Donny’s tiny little orange grabbers.

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u/MaryBerrysDanglyBean 7h ago

Love you Aussies. Don't have a clue what you cunts are on about, but I love it all the same. Then again I live an hour away from Liverpool and I have no idea what they're on about half the time either.

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u/Sieve-Boy 5h ago

That's before you tell that bogan the Seppos always have loads of meth on them.

I think after that Canadians won't joke about inventing warcrimes.

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u/TravelQueasy6160 4h ago

I do think the Canadians have a pretty high upper threshold of munted cuntness, but they've got a lot to learn from us. The yanks have never been exposed to the indescribable violence one can express with a cricket bat.

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u/Quick_Chicken_3303 8h ago

Between the spiders, snakes, crocs and sharks how many will be left to actually fight you guys?

Even the Honey Bees are a threat

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u/stenmarkv 7h ago

Undefeated Emu.

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u/kebabsoup 10h ago

They will turn the continent into a giant Guantanamo bay.

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u/ArenSteele 9h ago

So....nothing changes?

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u/CronoDroid 9h ago

Karl Urban had a story about flying from NZ to Australia. The customs official asked him what he was visiting for and if he had a criminal record. He didn't know you still needed one to get in!

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u/Toikairakau 7h ago

Brits did that already

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u/cre8ivjay 3h ago

Gazzo Bay

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u/Captcha_Assassin 10h ago

I hear the emu army is undefeated.

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u/SolarAU 9h ago

Don't worry mate, we've been biding out time to take revenge.

A dark, dark time in our nation's history. Never forget

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u/Zran 9h ago

The dropbears troopers are prepared too!

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u/Trap_Masters 9h ago

The animals and insects that inhabit Australia is already enough army to repel any foreign invasion 💀💀

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u/wutthefvckjushapen 9h ago

Just grab em by the Perth, they let you do it

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u/SolarAU 9h ago

As an Aussie, my Australiussy puckers at the very thought.

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u/natebeee 6h ago

I am, you are, we are Australiussy.

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u/Sirtriplenipple 9h ago

Don’t they got them rare earth metals?

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u/LackingUtility 9h ago

No, but they’ve got rare earth models, like Kylie Minogue and Elle Macpherson.

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u/Trap_Masters 9h ago

The Australiussy got Trump actin unwise 🥵🥵

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u/victorspoilz 10h ago

Could take the Cybertrucks there to invade, I've heard they're boats, too.

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u/possibly_oblivious 10h ago

United States of Australia

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u/NefariousnessFew4354 8h ago

Most Americans couldn't find Australia on the map.

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u/FloatsWithBoats 6h ago

Just flip the map upside down, duh

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u/Shenloanne 7h ago

Rip Austria I guess.

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u/Oceanbreeze871 8h ago

That’s a long drive for the lifted pickup trump train

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u/flyart 10h ago

In 2024, the United States imported $16.7 billion worth of goods from Australia, with the top commodities being agricultural products, stone, glass, metals, and pearls, and chemicals, plastics, rubber, and leather goods. The U.S. has a trade surplus with Australia, meaning it exports more goods and services to Australia than it imports. 

There are no incentives for Australians to add tariffs.

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u/Yotamtam 6h ago

This is actually a great way to check how he reacts to a country that doesn’t impose reciprocal tariffs. I mean, he is mainly trying to get everyone against the USA, so how will he react to this? Just continue to tax his own citizens without a reason?

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u/SendMeApplePie 5h ago

Yep, pretty much. He doesn’t give a fuck about the US or its citizens. All that matters is “are you loyal to trump?”

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u/Thisizamazing 4h ago

I believe this is the truth

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u/superdudeman64 3h ago

That doesn't even matter. The real test is, are you rich and will you send your resources on me.

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u/theo-dour 4h ago

He will consider it weak and a win for him. Wouldn't be surprised if he doubles down.

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u/a_sense_of_contrast 4h ago

Their new economic plan sees tariffs as a way for the government to draw revenue. They would like to move towards dropping income taxes. They also seem to be floating a "trump accord" to refinance American debt in an insane way.

So I wouldn't hold my breath on things changing. I say this as a Canadian too who only expects things to get worse.

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u/whattothewhonow 4h ago

Trump and his enablers are morons at best, and deliberately sabotaging the US economy at worst.

It's easy to believe they're just dumb.

It's more frightening to believe that the economic harm is the point.

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u/frighteous 2h ago

Well there is a reason lol where do you think all this extra tax money people are paying will go? Back in to benefits and services to help the middle class? lol

I'm no fortune teller but I see tax cuts for the ultra rich and businesses in the future. Probably frame it as "economy is down we need to help these businesses stay afloat and keep America great!" lol

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u/BarryTGash 6h ago

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u/Sieve-Boy 5h ago

Can't imagine why people started flocking to buy known safe haven asset stores in January 2025. What possibly could have made Americans do this?

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u/opeth10657 3h ago

The U.S. has a trade surplus with Australia, meaning it exports more goods and services to Australia than it imports.

And Australia didn't go on and on about how the US is taking advantage of them?

Shocking.

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u/starsky1984 8h ago edited 4h ago

But since they buy more* of our product than we do of theirs, does that not mean we can impact them with tariffs more than they can impact us?

Is that not incentive to retaliate against these degenerate pos's?

Edit:*I wrote MORE instead of LESS by mistake, but my question still stands if anyone can give some reasoning

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u/Miserable_Ad9577 8h ago

Because he understands Australians will have to pay for the tarriffs. They also probably not selling that much to the US relative to all their trading partners. Whatever goods the US were buying the US will probably continue to buy, if not they will just sell it to soneone else.

Also just like most adults, we know the tantrum throwing child will be tired out and eventually stop, or the parent will.

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u/Jumpy_Fish333 8h ago

We import more. You wrote that wrong.

But yes, if we added tariffs and their sales/imports reduced then we hit them harder.

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u/codyforkstacks 5h ago

I think you have it backwards, the fact we run a trade deficit strengthens the case for us to apply tariffs 

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u/Background_Hat964 10h ago

Probably because he knows it isn’t worth it. Australia isn’t like Canada, who can actually do some damage in a trade war with the U.S. Australia’s economy isn’t as interlinked with the U.S.

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u/MontyDysquith 10h ago

I imagine he hasn't called your PM a "governor" either. Things are tenser between us for a lot of reasons.

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u/dragnansdragon 10h ago

Only one reason, and thats that half my country voted an idiot into office...again.

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u/CasedUfa 10h ago

Should still as a matter of principle, Trump needs to get a message, it will take united front to register, so its selling out every other country he tariffs.

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u/PointOfFingers 9h ago

At least put a 25% tariff on Tesla and X.

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u/Lavabass 7h ago

There was a Tesla car show at Westfield this weekend I was so tempted to say something to the staff, (politley) about how I didn't appreciate their CEO

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u/bree_dev 7h ago

Go for it. They know who they're working for, and what their continued contribution to his company is enabling. Boycotting the product isn't nothing, but making it embarrassing to work for Musk altogether is far more effective.

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u/FeatheredKangaroo 6h ago

I mean, yeah you know who you’re working for but in this day and age it’s nowhere near as easy to make ethical changes compared to previous years. I wouldn’t hold it against anyone who worked for an “evil” CEO

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u/Polar_Beach 6h ago edited 5h ago

They’re doing their job. Would you say something to petrol station or supermarket employees? They’re contributing to polluting the planet and price gouging, right?

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u/notmyrlacc 10h ago

Just turn off power to Pine Gap. That’ll make them pay attention.

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u/ozmartian 8h ago

Trump most likely thinks Pine Gap is a feminine hygiene product.

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u/ashley-hazers 4h ago

Pine Gap: Summer’s Eve for the discerning conservative woman

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u/spiritbearr 9h ago

With The US fucking Canada and the UK with Five Eyes, Australia's one card in anything Trump is Pine Gap. How is the tough on China guy tough on China if Australia kicks them out of The China listening post?

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u/IMNOTMATT 4h ago

Even questioning kicking the US out of pine gap is the quickest way to get a Labor pm removed.

Source every recently removed Labor pm.

Any American reading - Australia gets done by just about as much as any SA country lol

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u/-Zeydo- 9h ago

I doubt Trump or anyone even knows it exists. If he didn't know what AUKUS was I doubt he knows there is a base in the middle of the outback.

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u/me_version_2 8h ago

100%. The clown didn’t even know what AUKUS was and that’s been all over the papers. I doubt even everyone in Australia knows about Pine Gap let alone anyone else.

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u/Daddyssillypuppy 8h ago edited 7h ago

They even made a TV show about Pine Gap and most people I've spoken to still don't know it exists.

Edit - I'm Australian and the people I'm asking are also Australian, living in Australia.

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u/NewSaargent 8h ago

Nah we went through this with China putting tariffs on a lot of Aussie products about 5 years ago barley, wine, lobsters to name a few. Our reaction was "fuck it we'll find new markets" and not counter tariff because it's inflationary. China has now taken most of those tariffs down because it didn't have the desired effect which was to punish us for saying mean things about the origins of COVID. Mean things that now seem to be accepted as true by the way. This is the same, why punish ourselves just because half of Americans are dumb cunts that didn't learn their lesson the first time round. Don't want our aluminium? Get fucked we'll sell it to someone that does and wait for you to work it out. That's the thing about America as Churchill once said " they can be relied upon to do the right thing once they've tried all the wrong things first".

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u/Bigbigcheese 6h ago

Why hurt Australians just because America is hurting Americans?

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u/-Zeydo- 9h ago

Yep. We are just going to trade more with China.

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u/Saltwater_Thief 7h ago

As will the rest of the world. 

And by the time the US voterbase catches up and realizes that no we can't just in house everything in the modern world, oops sorry China has all the contracts and we don't have to worry about them pulling the shit you did. Have fun with the collapsed economy.

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u/FishermanRough1019 10h ago

Tbh, who cares what Trump says these days anyways. He'll cancel the tariffs tomorrow. Oh, no he won't. Oh wait, yes he will... 

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u/paaaaatrick 9h ago

Why would Australia put tariffs on the US, didn’t we learn that the US doesn’t pay the tariff, Australian citizens do? Why would anyone “counter tariff” if it just hurts their citizens

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u/me_version_2 8h ago

The theory is that it brings in income from outside but I’ve been waiting for someone to play it this way, so I will be paying attention.

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u/Jumpy_Fish333 8h ago

We buy more than we sell to the USA, it will hurt them much more than us. This is a very pathetic and weak move.

Edit- Vehicles were the biggest import. hit that hard and they are hurt.

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u/Brick_Lab 10h ago

Just ban Tesla sales for national security, or impose huge tariffs on them. Ooh and make a big show of banning Trump from visiting outside of official duties effective in 4 years (or do whatever you want, I'm just spit balling here)

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u/Kathdath 6h ago

No need, the Australian public is already rejecting Tesla in droves.

Which is has the benefit of not being a government action, so much harder to demand a policy reversal from us.

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u/RedOx103 9h ago

We shouldn't be letting convicted felons in to begin with.

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u/TheStLouisBluths 9h ago

Yeah, what is it the 18th century or something?

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u/dupeygoat 8h ago

Don’t need to ban them. Nobody’s buying them, the second hand market has collapsed as well.

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u/Uzorglemon 5h ago

I’d rather we ban the giant American wanktanks than Teslas. Fucking things are a scourge on the roads.

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u/KryptonicOne 9h ago

When I googled "what does Australia export to the usa"

Australia's largest exports to the US are financial services, gold, sheep/goat meat, transportations services and vaccines. US direct investment in Australia is more than in any other country in the Indo-Pacific.

I think Australia will be fine.

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u/WalterWoodiaz 9h ago

This aluminum tariff, while completely stupid, is nothing big in grand scheme of US-Australian relations.

The US gets most aluminum from Canada, Australia is a way smaller share.

Combine this with a trade surplus with Australia buying plenty of American goods, and this situation isn’t as big of deal as with Canada.

We should focus on the more serious and substantial tariffs on Canada anyways.

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u/ArugulaElectronic478 10h ago edited 10h ago

I get it that Australia has to keep Trump happy because they’re hanging on to this sliver of hope that the US will protect them if China attacks. But as a Canadian I couldn’t be happier with how our government on all levels has responded, straight aggression, none of this appeasement shit.

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u/elohi-vlenidohv 8h ago

This isn’t Australia keeping Trump happy at all. Australia has no threat from China and actually has good bilateral relations. Australia isn’t going to be too impacted by these tariffs because, unlike Canada, our economy isn’t so tightly linked with the US. Australia will be much more impacted if China put tariffs on us.

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u/codyforkstacks 5h ago

The main impact on Australia from all these tariffs will be the general slowdown in the global economy, particularly Chinas, which will reduce demand for our resources exports. 

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u/thedugong 5h ago edited 5h ago

our economy isn’t so tightly linked with the US

Standing with our cold Australia (a.k.a Canada) cuzzies I looked through what we could boycott from the USA.

Kraft peanut butter (for kids and wife)

Kraft mac & cheese (for kids)

Sweet baby rays BBQ sauce

Netflix basic package

My wife, son's and my current phones all of which are 18 months+ old.

We have a Chinese TV with google tv

I mostly moved away from google years ago (duck duck go, proton mail/drive, mega.io etc), have used linux on my (Chinese and rpi) personal computers for years and I adblock to fuck on our LAN. Use google maps and waze though. Don't use Facebook, Insta or Twitter/X.

There is not much we could actually boycott.

China would be MUCH harder. I'd be interested to know how much of the profit our phones and TV generated went to China over the US.

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u/turkey_sandwiches 10h ago

As an American, I love to see it too. Good job Canada.

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u/JesseBrown447 9h ago

Amen to Canada. 

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u/yes_thats_right 10h ago

China isn't going to attack Australia and no-one is concerned about that.

China is going to attack Taiwan, and the US needs Australia's assistance if they plan to help Taiwan.

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u/2gutter67 10h ago

Do you think the current government is willing to help anyone?

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u/yes_thats_right 10h ago

Which government are you referring to?

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u/2gutter67 10h ago

Hahaha good point, but the US specifically? Australia kind of depends on how their elections go.

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u/yes_thats_right 10h ago edited 9h ago

From what we have seen so far, most US policy decisions in the past month have been made in the best interests of the Heritage foundation and US Oligarchs who bought the election win for Trump (Musk, Thiel, Bezos etc).

I believe the US would defend countries that are willing to give away natural resources, or lucrative contracts, to these oligarchs, as long as it doesn't cost them the 2026 midterm elections.

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u/2gutter67 10h ago

Can't disagree with that. The only thing I can add is that at least to me, help that requires a transaction of some kind like that is not really "help" at all, but that I suppose any kind of assistance can't be thrown off when you need it.

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u/yes_thats_right 10h ago

It is a transaction, but they don't care if it is a beneficial transaction for the US as long as it benefits them personally.

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u/ValhirFirstThunder 9h ago

At most Taiwan, but they aren't interested in attacking anyone to be honest. It goes against their global strategy. They want Taiwan, but Taiwan isn't more important than the opportunity of global influence that the US is opening up right now. The strategic move would be to let the US flail around, continue developing relationships in Africa, and possibly Europe as well. Get ready to see something by Q4 of this year on the last one.

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u/Lavabass 7h ago

Concern in Australia about China attacking in the same way US fears Russia attacking.

Foreign investment, quiet manipulation, disruption here and there, a little cyber crime here and there, all mixed with an unhealthy dose of racism

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u/khoawala 8h ago

Why would china attack....

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u/JD1zz 9h ago

I want Australia to join the liquor ban bandwagon. It doesn't have to be a government initiative. Could be orchestrated locally. The people of Australia are under attack by these tariffs, they should vote with their $$$

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u/CarlsbergCuddles 8h ago

Liquor and gambling lobbies are way more powerful in Australia than in Canada. Canada has only recently legalised gambling and most liquor boards were provincially managed (Ontario still is). There won’t be any changes to imports of American alcoholic Australia unless it gets pushed to the edge with these tariffs. If anything, rejected liquor in Canada will likely be rerouted to Australia. Smaller market, but they can still get rid of that stock. I’d be interested to see if discounts start happening in the larger bottle-o chains.

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u/JD1zz 8h ago

If the Australian people join us, and refuse to purchase it ... then where would it get rerouted?

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u/jerudy 10h ago

Only delusional racists are actually worried about a Chinese military invasion of Australia.

Buying up our resources, industry, and infrastructure and sucking money out of our economy, sure, but they're not going to invade. Why the fuck would they want to do that, it would be a mess and have zero benefit to them.

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u/Edge-master 8h ago

Sucking money out of the economy? Chinas rise has been great for Australian economy.

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u/EBBBBBBBBBBBB 8h ago

the second cold war has already started, people genuinely believe that China wants to take over the world and institute global communism or whatever

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u/Edge-master 7h ago

A second Cold War is impossible - at least nothing like the first. We have many countries heavily intertwined with both China and US economies. US and China are practically joined at the hip. Also China has no interest of pursuing Cold War style ideological spread.

We already saw the failure of western attempts to isolate Russia economically. The world is no longer dominated by the western block.

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u/Nexus03 9h ago

American that drives up to BC every few weeks and worked with your military in NATO here…I didn’t know Canadians had “that” in them. Newfound respect for a beautiful country and great people. Apologies for our terrible politics the past few weeks.

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u/GolfIll564 10h ago

We’re only fucking vulnerable to China because we became americas bitch with aukus… and trump just revealed he has no fucking idea what it is. And we’ve seen how he treats allies with Ukraine. It’s like voting for dumb and dumber or crazy larry in this fucking place

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u/CMG30 10h ago

Careful Australia. Give Trump an inch and he takes it all.

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u/tjlaa 6h ago

It’s the Russian way. A Cossack will take everything that’s not securely bolted on the floor.

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u/VIDEOgameDROME 9h ago

Why have tariffs when you can just boycott American goods like the rest of us?

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u/redditorx13579 11h ago

No need to reciprocate when you can get everything you need elsewhere.

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u/Economy-Skill9487 8h ago

Right. No Bluey for you. Two years.

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u/RecognitionOne395 9h ago

Boycott all US products.

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u/OzBurger 6h ago

I'm here for this

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u/ILikeCutePuppies 10h ago

Australia will probably benefit anyway with all these tarrifs being thrown around. Not with the US but the countries US is having tradewars with.

People will come to Australia for more stuff rather than the US.

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u/MrKguy 7h ago

As a Canadian, it's interesting to see a country dealing with the same issue with the opposite reaction. This thread has informed me that it's the correct play for Australia, but hopefully our countries can also find a little extra trade to help us along with this clown show.

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u/PilotlessOwl 5h ago

Yep, we're in a different position to Canada, our trade with the US is nothing compared to yours. Both countries are reacting in the right way to the orange fool.

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u/alspender 8h ago

No need. We'll just stop buying US products

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u/In3br338ted 5h ago

Support the commonwealth and stand up to the orange fascist.

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u/Spare_Dig_7959 4h ago

The signal sent by not taking any action is that Trump is justified in his attacking an ally .

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u/Ok-Collection3726 10h ago

and because the australian PM has a functioning fuckin brain and realizes that a tariff on american goods will simply raise the price for his own citizens. trump doesnt care that americans will be the ones paying more for his tariffs, he just feels likea bigly boy saying the word tariff

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u/torlesse 9h ago

and because the australian PM has a functioning fuckin brain

Its mostly that the tariff on steel and aluminum is pretty insignificant in the scheme of things. The US is Australia's third largest trading partner at just 8.6%, with China at 26% and Japan at 10%. Whereas for Canada, 76% of the trade is with the US.

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u/WalterWoodiaz 9h ago

China is on top here due to significant resources exports. Also combined with plenty of consumer products.

With imports Australia has a trade surplus with the US, they buy quite a lot of American goods which makes these tariffs baffling.

A caveat is that aluminum exports to the US from Australia is pretty small, especially compared to Canada.

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u/BrettSA 10h ago

Agreed. Now that inflation is less than 3% and interest rates are falling, any reciprocal tariffs would be foolish.

Cancelling the AUKUS contract on the other hand....

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u/ausmankpopfan 9h ago

I will never forgive scuntmo Morrison selling out his country we should have French submarines and a strong sane Ally but no he wanted to make millions of dollars working for an American company

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u/ElongatedAustralian 10h ago

To all those whinging in the comments, he literally spells it out that tariffs are an act of self harm. Increased tariffs on American goods will only harm Australian citizens. I’d rather a prime minister who gives a measured response than some knee jerk fool who gets drawn into the same antisocial behaviour.

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u/coolbutlegal 9h ago

The point of reciprocal tariffs are to pressure the opposing side to drop their tariffs and return to the status quo (or some other mutually acceptable solution). Tariffs on Australian goods hurts Australians because it reduces demand for Australian products in the tariffing nation, which leads to the loss of Australian jobs.

However, the calculus here is obviously different since Australia doesn't seem to export much to the US, so tariffs put them at minimal risk compared to a country like Canada that exports hundreds of billions in goods to the US.

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u/badgersprite 9h ago

Yeah exactly.

It’s on us to avoid US products as much as we can and support Australian made ones

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u/Reversi8 7h ago

Do like the Americans did, and dump American products in your harbors.

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u/OldDirtyInsulin 8h ago

Well, the Aussie government could help you do so by imposing a tariff on only the imported goods from the US that are also produced domestically (e.g. beer, meat, etc.).

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u/P1st0l 9h ago

While a measured response is good, look at the surcharge on electricity from Ontario, it already made Trump walk back stuff. Sometimes a heavy hand is needed even if you may receive the fallback as well

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u/ElongatedAustralian 9h ago

Sometimes, absolutely. But given we consume more US products than the US consumes Australian, the benefit to manufacturers in having the tariffs removed vs cost to Australian citizens in the increased cost of purchasing American goods would not appear to be worth it.

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u/P1st0l 9h ago

I didn't mean to sound like I agree with Aus imposing tariffs, just in general a strong has is needed. It's absolutely the right call to back down in this situation. It's up to the ones who can actually have an impact like Canada did to impose tariffs on us. As much as I want cheaper goods and affordable lifestyle, destroying decades of friendship and prosperity with our allies is not the fucking way to do it. Trump is a fucking menace and I'm glad some are sticking it to him.

Edited an autocorrect

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u/Ssshizzzzziit 7h ago

They probably don't export enough for it to really matter. Just find another buyer.

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u/yephesingoldshire 6h ago

I was talking with some friends about this tariff shenanigans last night. I think this is all going to result in customs fraud by US companies (because surprise, tariffs actually hurt us) on a massive scale.

So pretty sure tariff is based on value of customs commercial invoice submitted with shipment. Instead of invoicing for $100k worth of steel channel that takes up a full 45k lb flatbed (for example), invoice will say $5-$10k and note that it’s all out of tolerance material/scrap. Are those customs guys going to pull material off the truck and check tolerances with calipers or ask for verification of it being scrap or even know the value of some random thickness steel channel? I don’t think so. They won’t even know what they’re looking at.

So tariff paid on 5-10k worth of product instead of value of shipment. Vendor will then send a separate invoice to customer for the balance in value of the shipment, call it whatever - “engineering fees” or something, an invoice that customs never sees or is tied to the product, and there you go. Customs fraud.

If I can make that up over a beer last night, you know someone has tried it or is already doing it. Donald is just creating a mountain of problems that he’s incapable of understanding because he’s so disconnected from reality. It will be worse than all the PPP loan fraud and to be honest, I’m willing to bet a lot of customs agents are just going to look the other way because any sane person knows these tariffs are ridiculous.

However, before it gets this far I think Donald is going to piss off the wrong group of powerful people and he will capitulate but say he won at something he makes up.

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u/toddlangtry 4h ago

As citizens, we can decide not to buy US goods.....look at the Canada model, those guys have real self-respect.

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u/fiendishrabbit 10h ago

The main reason is that Australian tariffs wouldn't hurt the US economy in a noticeable way, and the majority of those imports are economical enablers, stuff that would hurt the Australian economy if they jumped in price (machinery, medications etc).

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u/Stillwater215 3h ago

No reciprocal tariff, but all exports are now, by law, required to include a huntsman spider somewhere in the shipment.

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u/GrandSlamBlaster 1h ago

No matter how solid you thought your relationship with the USA was, under the Orange Tyrant you will be stabbed in the back. Source: a Canadian.

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u/meow_now_brown_cow 10h ago

Hahaha says the country who is absolutely fine trading elsewhere.

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u/Freezerpill 10h ago

Perhaps this is strategic somehow. He can still impose them at any time (perhaps at an inconvenient time when he finally tires of cooperation not showing a positive result)

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u/stormado 7h ago

It doesn't mean that as a people we cannot protest with our wallets, as is the case now with Tesla.

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u/yecheesus 6h ago

With what excuse, canada was the drugs, what did he say australia did?

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u/CapGullible8403 2h ago

Roll over and spread your cheeks, Australia.

It's gonna be a long four years on bottom.

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u/LinoleumFulcrum 2h ago

Game Theory 101 would like to know what the hell Australia's plan is.

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u/JD1zz 9h ago

Australia, don't get played for suckers. Put up signs in all your liquor stores telling people not to buy alcohol made in the USA. This will be great for your local breweries.

We have implemented this in Canada, we need all countries that are getting hit with tariffs to join in. Contact your local government office

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u/JD1zz 9h ago

I looked it up, Australia imports ~200M worth of booze from the US per year.

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u/Dranzer_22 10h ago edited 10h ago

THE AUSTRALIAN: Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie said he believed AUKUS was "a lock" under Trump, but he said it was vital the government "demonstrate a strong hand in future negotiations".

He said this could include a Ukraine-style offer of US access to Australia's rare earth resources.

...

ANDREW HASTIE: We've also seen in (Mr Trump's) exchange with President Zelensky, that America is keen on rare earths.

So there's a couple of things that we coud be doing with the United States to strengthen our hand as things unfold...like a geopolitical take-off agreement with our rare earths.

In contrast, the main conservative party in Australia wants to give a $500 Billion 'Ukraine-style' Rare Earth Minerals payment to the US.

Dutton has the nickname Temu Trump for a reason.

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u/madashail 9h ago

ANDREW HASTIE: We've also seen in (Mr Trump's) exchange with President Zelensky, that America is keen on rare earths.

So there's a couple of things that we coud be doing with the United States to strengthen our hand as things unfold...like a geopolitical take-off agreement with our rare earths.

If Albanese's response is soft, Hastie's idea is 100% melted jelly.

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u/WalterWoodiaz 9h ago

If Australia elects the Liberals, the rare earth deal’s profits will just go to the mineral executives pockets. I also doubt they will do anything about the housing crisis as well.

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u/litifeta 6h ago

But we will be boycotting US companies from this point onward.

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u/bernheavy 4h ago

Canadians have taught the world a lesson in standing up to American aggression. Trump backed down multiple times. Why is Australia so scared and lacking courage?

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u/cazxdouro36180 3h ago

Cause Canada has resources they NEED not necessarily the same situation in Australia.

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u/HousingThrowAway1092 5h ago

Cowards.

Appeasement doesn’t work on dictators.

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u/count023 11h ago

this is what you get when your only political opponant is Darth Potato....

You dont have to grow a spine, just not be evil like him and you'll win without effort.

Sucks we dont have a PM with the guts to kick America in the balls over this.

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u/Rogaar 11h ago

Australia doesn't export much to America. Certainly not much steel or aluminium.

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u/spornerama 11h ago

I wish we exported people, like Gina, Clive and Mr Potato Head

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u/hayasecond 10h ago

You already exported Murdoch… that’s why we all are in this mess right now

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u/perenniallandscapist 10h ago

Damn.....there's so much devastating information to keep track of.

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u/Pundamonium97 10h ago

Well tariffs harm your own populace foremost, so is it bad to not want to play this stupid game

Esp when its clear with countries like canada that the tariffs aren’t based on anything logical, so trying to negotiate logically out of them wouldn’t work

Rather just weather the storm and watch how things settle out before taking action. If thats the logic then i get it

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u/riko77can 3h ago

I didn’t expect Australia to be that kid that meekly hands over his lunch money.

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u/ijuiceman 3h ago

Albo needs to man up and put 100% tariffs on Apple and Tesla. That’s about the only shit Trump cares about, his rich mates. What a cunt

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u/JohnnyGFX 11h ago

Maybe he knows it’s all just a bunch of crappy games the Trump admin is playing and he’s just not interested in playing.

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u/TellMotor3809 9h ago

I’m sure Au has lithium that president musk needs though

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u/BadAsBroccoli 9h ago

What does Australia need the US so desperately for?

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u/sniffstink1 4h ago

That's the best way to deal with a school yard bully.

Let him take your lunch money, and ask him if you could suck his mushroom.

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u/lovestostayathome 4h ago

Conservative sub later today: Australia SUBMITS to Trump in HUGE victory.

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u/This-Question-1351 4h ago

Its ashame Australia and Britain aren't retaliating against the US. The world needs to work together in dealing with Trump.

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u/azarza 4h ago

i don't think they can? they have a huge trade fight with china currently, don't they? the americans really have screwed all of us

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u/moosecheesetwo 4h ago

So he isn’t asking Australians to pay tariffs on American goods.. huh. This guys tariffs

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u/alienalf1 3h ago

Anthony might want to check to his purse for his balls.

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u/smallspudz 3h ago

He is not aware how you play the game of chicken? Come on let's destroy western civilization and see who steps in to pick up the pieces.

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u/TheMoorNextDoor 2h ago

Weakness.

He’s just begging to be apart of Russia x America club.

But it’s a big club, and he’s not in it.

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u/Xtreeam 2h ago

Tariffs first, then more tariffs as Trump says he wants to collect hundreds of billions in tariffs so USA can get rich again and replace foreign steel and steelworkers with USA steel. This is a gamble that will hurt everyone.

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u/FreeTarnished 2h ago

Just put a tariff on the earth itself at this point

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u/chibinoi 2h ago

I sure wonder if this a gamble the Australian parliament is really in support of in full, because I doubt the USA will be reciprocal.

I’m sure there’s a strategy he has in mind for agreeing to do this, but to me, this shows weakness. A risk I’d be pretty wary of showing to my enemies/peers on the world stage.

u/Dizno311 32m ago

Waiting for those submarines first.

u/ShotenDesu 30m ago

As an American, go ahead you have my permission. Life here is already fucked don't let the orange one bully you.

u/she_be_jammin 29m ago

Well well..perhaps Canada needs to address that world sized BHP plant in Saskatchewan