By Kirsty Needham
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s industry minister said on Wednesday the nation’s plan to boost “green” aluminium exports would not be derailed by the threat of U.S. tariffs, saying American customers would only end up paying more for a product in global demand.
After U.S. President Donald Trump said he would consider an exemption for Australia from a flat 25% tariff on steel and aluminium imports, his adviser Peter Navarro told CNN in an interview “Australia is just killing our aluminum market”.
The executive order imposing tariffs said the volume of aluminium from Australia had surged after it was granted a tariff exemption by Trump in 2018, and was 103% higher in 2024 than the average volume for 2015 to 2017.
“Australia has disregarded its verbal commitment to voluntarily restrain its aluminum exports to a reasonable level,” the order read.
Industry Minister Ed Husic said on Wednesday that Australia would argue vigorously for a new exemption for its aluminium as a strong ally with defence ties, and would not cut back aluminium exports to the United States, where there is high demand on the West Coast.
“The world has a high demand for our aluminium; we need it as part of transition to net zero,” he told reporters at the National Press Club in Canberra. “The question is for our American friends do you really want to pay more for that product that you’ve got a big demand for?”
The centre-left Labor government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese faces a national election by May, and announced a plan last month to spend A$2 billion for aluminium smelters to switch to renewable electricity to secure up to 75,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Labor has organisational ties to the metal worker union, one of Australia’s largest unions.
Husic, who said he was the son of a metal worker, said aluminium exports support thousands of jobs in rural Australia.
Australia, the world’s sixth-largest aluminium producer, accounted for 1% of steel imports into the U.S. and 2% of its aluminium imports.
(Reporting by Kirsty Needham. Editing by Gerry Doyle)
