The Albanese government has been urged to enlist mining billionaire Gina Rinehart and golfing legend Greg Norman to help persuade US President Donald Trump to give Australia a tariff exemption.

Coalition frontbencher Bridget McKenzie made the call, as negotiations get underway and a senior US official accused Australia of reneging on a Morrison era agreement to restrain aluminium exports.

The US’s 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium imports come into effect on March 12, leaving Australia a month to win an exemption – similar to the one granted in 2018, when Malcolm Turnbull was prime minister.

But in his proclamation signing the tariffs into effect on Tuesday (AEDT), Trump accused Australia of abusing a “verbal commitment to voluntarily restrain its aluminium exports to a reasonable level”.

That refers to an informal deal for an aluminium export cap, supposedly agreed to by Turnbull’s successor, Scott Morrison, in 2019. The Australian government has no written record of the commitment, reportedly made at a G20 meeting in Osaka.

Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro told CNN that Australia was “killing” America’s aluminium market through its imports.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers brushed off the accusation, saying the government was focused on what’s in front of it, not what happened almost a decade ago.

“No doubt that the colleagues will try and get to the bottom of what’s being said here,” Chalmers told ABC Radio.

Also on Wednesday, McKenzie reiterated the Coalition’s concerns about Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd.

“The reality is, the Prime Minister’s job, the Trade Minister’s job, the ambassador’s job is to actually secure the exemption for Australian steel and aluminium exports. This is a significant impact on jobs here at home, and it requires a strong relationship with the US, something that unfortunately, the Labor appointees to these roles haven’t been able to secure as yet,” she told Nine’s Today show.

“There is a lot riding on this for Albo. There’s a lot riding on this for Kevin Rudd. Absolutely.

‘[Rinehart is] a very successful businesswoman. And she also has a great relationship with President Trump. And as Greg Norman does, as well.”

Rinehart has been a guest at several Trump functions, while Norman has a relationship through the President’s love of golf.

After a phone call with Albanese on Tuesday, Trump said he would give Australia’s case for an exemption “great consideration”, adding it was one of the few nations with which the US had a trade surplus.

“We’re focused on this productive and positive conversation that Prime Minister Albanese had with President Trump as part of our efforts to stand up for a really important industry in this country,” Chalmers said.

In Portland, on Victoria’s south-west coast, the local aluminium smelter directly employs about 600 workers and just as many contractors in a town of 10,000.

“The importance of the smelter to us, to the local economy, is just huge,” Glenelg Shire mayor Karen Stephens said.

“This just throws that spanner in the works and gives that uncertainty.”

Australia’s aluminium and steel industries support more than 175,000 jobs and contribute $47 billion to the national economy each year.

BlueScope is the only Australian steel producer with substantial exports to the US, according to the Australian Steel Institute.

However, fears other nations will dump cheaper products in Australia could have a big impact on the entire local sector.
Communities in the Georgetown area of northern Tasmania are likely exposed to the tariff threat more than most, according to Mayor Greg Keiser.

Two smelters at Bell Bay, which make aluminium and manganese used in steel, are the two biggest businesses in the council area.

“Obviously, the one that we’re most concerned about would be direct employment,” Keiser said.

He estimates 30 per cent of smelter workers live in his municipality of 7500 people and believes most are apprehensive Australia can secure another exemption.

The peak business group in NSW’s Hunter region is home to Australia’s biggest aluminium smelter at Tomago.

“A lot of uncertainty is a consequence, which is not a good thing for business or governments for that matter,” Hawes said.

-with AAP