<?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?> <docID>337453</docID> <postdate>2025-02-03 10:09:09</postdate> <headline>Australia confident about weathering tariff uncertainty</headline> <body><p><img class="size-full wp-image-337454" src="https://citynews.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/20190920001420757103-original-resized.jpg" alt="" width="900" height="600" /></p> <caption>Australia avoided tariffs in the last Trump administration but it's unclear what's next in store. (Mick Tsikas/AAP PHOTOS)</caption> <p><span class="kicker-line">By <strong>Dominic Giannini</strong> in Canberra</span></p> <p><strong>Australia is in a strong position to navigate dramatic shifts in global markets stemming from Donald Trump's trade tariffs, Foreign Minister Penny Wong says.</strong></p> <p>The US president has announced a 25 per cent tariff on products from Canada and Mexico and 10 per cent for China.</p> <p>Senator Wong, who recently met with her US counterpart Marco Rubio following Mr Trump's inauguration in Washington, noted Australia had a trade surplus with the US.</p> <p>"President Trump is implementing the agenda he said he would ... obviously that's going to affect global markets," she told reporters in Canberra on Monday.</p> <p>"We understand that and we also understand that we best approach this by our close engagement with the United States."</p> <p>"The US has a two-to-one trade surplus with Australia and every good and service from the US comes into our country free of tariffs."</p> <p>Australia managed to avoid tariffs under the first Trump administration after then-Liberal prime minister Malcolm Turnbull negotiated an exemption.</p> <p>It's a yardstick the opposition is using to determine how successful the US relationship is managed under Labor.</p> <p>"You need to be able to show that you can have a working relationship with this administration and that is something the coalition has done previously," shadow attorney-general Michaelia Cash told Nine's Today Show.</p> <p>Germany's Economy Minister Robert Habeck has warned against starting a trade war, saying Europe would retaliate with counter-tariffs.</p> <p> </p> </body>