Original article by Michael Koziol
The Age – Page: Online : 9-Apr-25

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has defended the Trump administration’s decision to impose a baseline tariff of 10 per cent on Australian imports. Democrats senator Mark Warner asked Greer why the US would do so, given that the US has a trade surplus with Australia and the two nations are close allies. Greer argued that Australia will be subject to the lowest tariff rate, adding that the government needs to reduce the $US1.2trn trade deficit that it inherited from the Biden administration. He stated that the US should be "running up the score on Australia", implying that it could use a bigger surplus with Australia to offset its trade deficits elsewhere. Meanwhile, the US has advised that cumulative tariffs of 104 per cent on Chinese imports will take effect on Wednesday.

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UNITED STATES. OFFICE OF TRADE REPRESENTATIVES