Australia Prime Minister Rejects Imposing ‘Self-harm’ Retaliatory Tariffs

United States President Donald Trump is out imposing tariffs of different sorts on products from countries across the world. In many instances, the governments of countries hit by tariffs have responded with retaliatory tariffs against America. Refreshingly, it looks like the Australia government it taking the economically sound course of opting out of this “trade war.” As a result, Australians should benefit from avoiding paying a tariff tax imposed by their own government when they buy products.

Jake Evans and Stephen Dziedzic reported Tuesday at Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that, while Australia Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed his opposition to the US government’s imposing of tariffs on steel and aluminum imports to America, Albanese declared that he opposes Australia imposing retaliatory tariffs. That seems the wise course for Australians given Albanese’s informed assessment of US tariffs as acts of “economic self-harm.” Similarly, as related in the ABC report, Australia Foreign Minister Penny Wong commented:

Guess who will pay the price of this? It’s actually Americans, American consumers. These tariffs will harm the ordinary American and the American economy.