Australia increased aluminum exports with U.S. blessing, trade minister says

President Donald Trump speaks as Tulsi Gabbard is sworn in as the Director of National Intelligence in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025, in Washington. (Photo/Alex Brandon)

SYDNEY — Australia’s trade minister Don Farrell said on Thursday the country had increased aluminum supply to the U.S. with Washington’s approval, addressing a hurdle to Canberra’s request for an exemption from U.S. tariffs on aluminum and steel.

U.S. President Donald Trump said this week he would consider an exemption for Australia from a flat 25 per cent tariff on steel and aluminum imports, before one of his closest advisers said Australia was “killing our aluminum market.”

The executive order imposing tariffs said the volume of aluminum from Australia had surged after it was granted a tariff exemption by Trump in 2018, with the country disregarding a verbal commitment to restrain aluminum supply.

But Farrell said Australia had increased its aluminum exports with the blessing of the previous administration of President Joe Biden, after supply disruptions from Russia during its ongoing war with Ukraine.

“All of that was done with the full knowledge of the American government. We haven’t done - at any stage - anything that the American government has not been comfortable with,” he said in an interview with state broadcaster ABC.

The center-left Labor government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is facing a national election due by May and recently unveiled a A$2 billion (US$1.26 billion) plan to help aluminum smelters transition to renewable electricity. The initiative aims to safeguard up to 75,000 direct and indirect jobs.

Australia, the world’s sixth-largest aluminum producer, accounted for 1 per cent of steel imports into the U.S. and 2per cent of its aluminum imports.

(US$1 = 1.5918 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Alasdair Pal and Kirsty Needham in Sydney; Editing by Sonali Paul)