Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has vowed Australia will not roll over to appease the US under his watch, as President Donald Trump is poised to announce who he will target in his next round of tariffs.

On the campaign trail on Tuesday, Albanese said Australia would not weaken its biosecurity protections to allay American concerns.

On the eve of more US tariff announcements, Trump said he had settled on the next batch of tariffs, but would not reveal anything until so-called ‘Liberation Day’ on Wednesday.

His office released an annual report that highlighted various trade barriers imposed by Australia on American goods like beef, pork, chicken, apples and pears, aimed at preventing pests and viruses.

The report also pointed to issues over Australia’s treatment of pharmaceutical patents and its news bargaining code, which requires tech platforms to pay news organisations for their content.

While Albanese said discussions with the US were ongoing, these three issues were off the table.

“Australia is not negotiating over the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, we’re not negotiating over the news bargaining code, we won’t undermine our biosecurity,” he told reporters in Adelaide on Tuesday.

“The idea that we would weaken biosecurity laws is really like — as my mum would say — cutting off your nose to spite your face.”

Albanese said he would defend Australia’s interests.

“You undermine our biosecurity system, not on my watch,” he said.

“I want to see a constructive outcome, but what I won’t do is undermine our national interest.”

The US president’s “Liberation Day” tariffs will be announced on Wednesday and are expected to wreak havoc on a litany of American trade partners.

Australia, along with the rest of the world, has already been slugged with 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium, and potential further measures have cast an international shadow over the May 3 federal election.

Coalition leader Peter Dutton said he agreed with the prime minister’s position.

“If given the great honour of being prime minister of this country, I will not compromise in relation to issues that have national significance and importance to us.”

The question of which major party leader could better handle the US president has loomed large in Australia.

Albanese and Dutton will go head to head for the first debate on Tuesday, April 8 at 7.30pm, moderated by Sky News chief news anchor Kieran Gilbert.

The debate will be hosted by The Daily Telegraph and Sky News in the form of a ‘People’s Forum’ with questions from 100 undecided voters in Western Sydney.

As the election campaign continues, the Reserve Bank’s decision to hold rates at 4.1 per cent on Tuesday is set to feature on the domestic front.

It’s the only time the central bank has made an interest rate decision during the election campaign, the first since it cut for the first time in almost five years in February.

In its post-meeting statement, the board said it needed to be more confident that inflation was returning sustainably to the midpoint of its two-three per cent target band.

“It is therefore cautious about the outlook,” the statement said.

Trump’s tariffs were impacting confidence globally and adding uncertainty to the outlook abroad, the board noted.

That was likely to weaken economic activity but the impacts on inflation were less certain, the statement said.

“The board is resolute in its determination to sustainably return inflation to target and will do what is necessary to achieve that outcome.”

Inflation did show further signs of easing in monthly figures released last week, with the headline consumer price index slowing from 2.5 to 2.4 per cent in February, below the midpoint of the target band.

But the RBA will be looking for more proof in less volatile quarterly inflation data due to be released before its next meeting in May.

While in Adelaide, Albanese announced $150 million to expand a healthcare centre in the city, while Dutton took his campaign to Melbourne to spruik plans to lower entry barriers for first home buyers to enter the market.

The Coalition has pledged to lower the serviceability buffer, an increased interest rate banks apply to new loan applications to check whether buyers can repay a mortgage.

The rate currently sits at three per cent, but opposition housing spokesman Michael Sukkar said the rate had been inflexible.

“Having these artificial rules in place, well intentioned though they may be, are ultimately just blocking young Australians from ever getting finance to ever buy a home,” he told ABC Radio.

“Now that we have elevated interest rates, a serviceability buffer that has not remained flexible with those changes is just blocking first time buyers from entering the market.”

-with AAP