Former Albanese government minister Bill Shorten has called for Australia to retaliate against the US amid concerns it will expand its harsh tariffs.

The federal government has vowed to support Australia’s beef and wine producers as the US threatens to expand trade penalties to agricultural products.

Tariffs of 25 per cent came into effect on steel and aluminium this week, after Australia – along with other nations – failed to secure an exemption. With US President Donald Trump threatening another round of tariffs in April, billions of dollars in Aussie beef could be next on the chopping block.

On Channel Seven on Friday morning, former Labor leader Shorten urged Australia to retaliate against the US if it kept imposing tariffs.

A trade war threatens to break out in the northern hemisphere after Trump threatened to slap 200 per cent tariffs on wine, cognac and other alcohol imports from Europe, following its plan to impose retaliatory levies on US whiskey.

Shorten urged Australia not to rule out a similar response.

“Australia might be a bit smaller than America, but we’re not a soft mark,” he told Sunrise.

“At the end of the day, if they keep putting tariffs on all of our goods, then we’ve got to reciprocate dollar for dollar, tariffs for tariffs.”

However, the federal government has continued to talk down this option, noting it would push up prices for consumers.

“As tempting as that might be to give some satisfaction, I don’t think it’s the way to resolve these outstanding issues,” Trade Minister Don Farrell said.

“A sensible, calm, collected approach – the way we connected with China – is the way we need to deal with these issues.”

The federal government is, however, encouraging shoppers to buy Australian products and Labor is considering local quotas for major projects amid fears cheap steel could be dumped in Australia.

“We need a Team Australia approach here, because there’s going to be plenty more challenges ahead,” Farrell said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has also again ruled out hitting the US with reciprocal trade penalties.

“Tariffs are a tax on Australian consumers and people who buy our products. That is our view. We stand very clearly in favour of free
and fair trade,” he said.

“What we won’t do is act with economic self-harm. You can’t argue that it’s an act of economic self-harm for the US to impose
tariffs and then us impose tariffs as well.”

After speaking to US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick on Friday morning, Farrell said he would stand with beef, wine and other agricultural exporters to protect their interests. He compared the situation to discussions that recently led China to lift similar trade restrictions on Australia.

“The Albanese government has your back,” he told the Global Good Forum in Melbourne.

“We’ll stand with you from shoulder-to-shoulder to protect our trade interest, just like we did to resolve all those issues with China.”

As Trump pledges to protect American agriculture, there is still limited information from his government about further tariffs.

This makes estimating the potential impact difficult. But the US was Australia’s most valuable cattle industry export market in 2023-24, totalling about $3.4 billion, according to Rural Bank.

Cattle Australia chief executive Chris Parker said he was “extremely concerned” by Trump’s protectionist comments and would “vigorously oppose” any barriers to free trade and market access.

If Australia does face tariffs on its beef products, Farrell said it could try to diversify exports and make trade agreements with other nations.

The Coalition has said the federal government should have sent Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to face-to-face talks with Trump, and hasn’t done enough to secure an exemption from steel and aluminium levies.

“We have a unique relationship with the US and I want to see our Prime Minister fighting for every single job in this country that depends on a tariff exemption,” Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley told Sunrise.

Australia has pressed on with negotiations, and Farrell said it was important to note none of the countries that secured an exemption in Trump’s first term had managed to secure a repeat – regardless of meetings with him.

“It didn’t matter whether you had a face-to-face meeting with the President, whether there were more meetings between trade ministers and the commerce secretary, or whether there was more discussions with the ambassadors,” he said.

“The decision was already made.”

-with AAP