Malcolm Turnbull should stand up for the Australian steel industry when he meets with Donald Trump at the G20 this week.
Donald Trump is currently considering putting a tariff on steel imports to the United States.
Bluescope Steel Australia exports up to 400,000 tonnes of steel from Port Kembla to the United States.
If Donald Trump puts a tariff on Australian steel – it puts this at risk.
This represents about one per cent of steel imported into the United States.
Exempting Australia from a US steel tariff would have miniscule impact on the US steel industry.
Two days ago Donald Trump asked in a tweet:
“Why should we continue these [trade] deals with countries that do not help us?”
Donald Trump, tweet, 5 July 2017
Malcolm Turnbull should remind Donald Trump that Australia does help the United States.
Malcolm Turnbull needs to make sure this week that Australian steel is exempt from any Trump tariff.
For the past 12 months Malcolm Turnbull has been lecturing about the dangers of protectionism without mentioning Donald Trump’s name.
It’s time he had the guts to have that conversation face-to-face.
FRIDAY, 7 JULY 2017
MEDIA CONTACT: KORENA FLANAGAN 02 9790 2466
