KYLE SANDILANDS, HOST: Let's put him on. Forget about what you've got going on.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: I am listening now.
SANDILANDS: Sorry Albo, every time, Prime Minister. Every time, every time you come on, you’ve caught us in the middle of something.
JACKIE ‘O’ HENDERSON, HOST: It’s just women's talk. It happens. It’s natural.
SANDILANDS: It's fine, it's fine. Now, Albo, thank you for coming on, I appreciate it. Prime Minister, what I wanted to talk to you about was, everyone is up in arms over these Trump tariffs. Oh, and you read every newspaper, all the news. It's like it's the end of the world, and really the only tariffs we're getting on the aluminium and steel industry, that's the only tariffs that we're up for right? So, this isn't, is that the only thing that they're going to put on us and that's not even that much steel. So, is it really the end of the world that this tariff may or may not happen?
PRIME MINISTER: No, it's not the end of the world, but it's not a good decision. But it does represent less than 0.2 percent, that is less than $1 in every $500 of the total value of our exports. And neither steel or aluminium were in the top 10 of our exports to the United States, but it's what it represents. We have a good relationship with our friends in the United States. They've imposed this tariff on everyone, so we're not being singled out and it's just an act of self-harm. If you increase the price in which you're buying products for everyone, then it's American buyers who will pay the increased price and that will of course go to the government. That's part of the objective here of the Trump administration. But we regard it as an unjustified decision and one that we'll continue to argue against.
SANDILANDS: Right, so fair enough. So, it's only a small amount of steel, but we need every dollar, every person that works in any industry in this country. We want them to thrive and do very well. And isn't it really, the tariffs that Trump's talking about, and I've read so many articles and all these lunatics with all these different crazy ideas. Isn't it just a reset negotiation tactic that he's really trying to do, especially with Canada and Mexico, because it's sort of off balance, isn't it? Like the stuff they send and get, it's all off balance. Other countries already have tariffs. This isn't a new thing.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we'll wait and see. The decisions are fairly changing, it's fair to say, from day to day. And so Canada and the US have a shocker of a relationship at the moment. They're really punishing the Canadians. And the Canadians, of course, are arguing their case back and are introducing tariffs as well. And that's the real concern here, is that you'll have a decline in world trade, a decline in economic activity and it will impact the global economy. So, where we are concerned about that, our steel and aluminium, the reason why people buy it is because it's a bloody good product. That's why.
SANDILANDS: We've got good stuff. Yeah, we got the best in the world, haven't we?
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely. BlueScope down there in Port Kembla produce all those Colorbond roofs. Largely, that's what they're exporting and they also, that are on the roofs in California and all those places. It's a great product and they also employ almost five thousand people in the United States. So, it's not like they're just producing here and exporting over there. This is a great Australian company that are creating jobs here in Port Kembla but also creating jobs there in the United States as well. It's a great success story and that should be something that's welcomed by the Americans rather than punished.
SANDILANDS: Now America, like this is the situation for the America. The country was about to go bankrupt. If someone didn't do something, at some stage the United States would run out of money. Are we in that same situation or do we have our back ends better sorted than the United States does?
PRIME MINISTER: We are in a much stronger position in terms of our debt levels, our economy. If we get things right this decade, we can set Australia up for many decades to come. I have no doubt about that. We have all the resources that the world wants under the ground. Cobalt and copper and vanadium and lithium and all these new minerals. Rare earth.
SANDILANDS: Can't we just sell all this stuff to another country. Can't we go over to India and go, ‘hey, the Americans and Chinese, they're playing games. How about you buy all our stuff?’ I'm sure someone in your Government's running around selling all this stuff to other countries, right?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, we certainly are. We've restored the trade relationship with China, for example. This is, in the scheme of things, as I said, not a gigantic export industry for Australia. We restored more than $20 billion of our exports to China across iron ore, barley, wine, lobsters, the full kit and caboodle, red meat, all going to China. It's our major trading partner and one in four of our jobs is trade dependent. And that's why we think trade is so important. It is about Australian jobs and it is about Australia's national interest.
SANDILANDS: Yeah, well, I just don't want all these weirdo Senators down there saying we should shut down the US airfields, we should tariff them, but at the end of the day, if the poo hits the fan here, America's going to come to our defence, no one else. You know what I mean? Like, so we've got to keep that relationship good, but not get bullied. That's a difficult seesaw you're on.
PRIME MINISTER: Indeed. But our defence relationship is really important and I'll continue to engage constructively. The last time around this happened back in 2018, it took many months of negotiations and lobbying. We're keeping the efforts up. We certainly haven't given up here. Far from it.
SANDILANDS: You don't think, you don't think Rudd's, you know how Trump hates Rudd and Rudd hates Trump. Do you think he's the right person to represent us over there or, or they don't let that get in the way. I don't mind Rudd, but God, if you're on his wrong side. Oh, he's a real little pest.
PRIME MINISTER: Compare what Kevin said with what J.D. Vance said and he's now the Vice President of the United States. You know, I mean, these –
SANDILANDS: That's right. J.D. Vance was no fan of Trump's either at one stage. Did you know that, Jackie?
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely. Kevin Rudd, as a former Prime Minister, it shows the status that we place in our relationship with the United States by appointing such a senior person to represent Australia. And he's working his butt off over there in advancing Australia's interests.
SANDILANDS: Well, that's good to know. Look, I just wanted to clarify because you keep reading these different articles and it seems like it's doomsday, all because Colorbond might not go to America and you think surely we're not that vulnerable, that one company's tariffs is going to ruin the rest of us. But good luck in sorting it out. I've got full faith it'll all go away.
HENDERSON: Thank you Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: We will sort these things through. And importantly about Colorbond or anything else, because the tariffs on everyone, our comparative advantage doesn't change, it's just for everyone's prices they go up.
SANDILANDS: Didn't the Japanese come and do a $100 billion deal with us for steel and aluminium? Or am I got that wrong?
PRIME MINISTER: We have good relations with Japan, an important trading partner and that will continue. And one of the things that's going on here is that countries around the world are all talking to each other about trade opportunities to fill some of the void which is there.
SANDILANDS: New opportunities.
PRIME MINISTER: We've got to grab them.
SANDILANDS: Thank you. There's the Prime Minister, 31st and current Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.