Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has refused to rule out Australia fighting the US at the World Trade Organisation if the nation is hit with more tariffs on the so-called “liberation day”.

“We are prepared for all possibilities going forward,” he said on Wednesday.

“Tariffs are an act of economic self-harm on those who impose it. It increases costs for buyers in the United States.”

Australia faces the threat of fresh tariffs on all imports to the US, as President Donald Trump’s trade war casts a shadow over the federal election.

Trump will unveil his latest round of tariffs early on Thursday morning, Australian time, with some reports suggesting a blanket 20 per cent penalty looms.

Slugs are expected on pharmaceuticals and agricultural sector imports, as well as measures responding to Australia’s news bargaining code, which forces social media companies to pay media outlets for content on their platforms.

Albanese said Australia’s exports to the US represented less than 5 per cent of its global goods exports.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said while there was bipartisanship on not compromising on pharmaceuticals or biosecurity arrangements, he would be more assertive with Trump.

“If I needed to have a fight with Donald Trump or any other world leader to advance our nation’s interests, I’d do it in a heartbeat, and I’ll put the Americans on notice,” he told Sky News.

“I’m not going to allow the President of the United States or the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom or anyone else to walk over me or to walk over our country.

“At the moment they see a Prime Minister who is weak and flapping in the breeze.”

But Albanese said an aggressive approach would not work.

“Peter Dutton will always dial things up to 11,” he said.

“He thinks this is a contest of who can say the most aggro things. That’s not the way diplomacy works.

“The last time around, he was praising President Trump, rather than standing up for Australia.”

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said Australian officials were still pressing the case to US representatives for tariff exemptions.

“We’ve been working through our established channels to explain to the US the Australian government’s position and to respond to issues that they raise with us,” she said in Canberra.

The US tariffs are expected to take immediate effect, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying Trump was open to negotiating with countries afterwards.

Meanwhile, both party leaders used the fifth day on the campaign trail to shore up support in marginal seats in Melbourne, which will be key to deciding the election.

Greens flag new condition for hung parliament

Meanwhile, the Greens will demand that the next federal government spends billions to “restore nature”, if the election ends with a hung parliament.

With a rising number of voters turning away from the two major parties, there are predictions the May 3 poll could end with neither winning the majority of seats needed to govern in its own right.

This would leave the Greens, along with crossbench MPs – made up mostly of teal independents – holding the balance of power.

However, the Greens’ bargaining chips are likely to be offered to Labor alone, given leader Adam Bandt has ruled out supporting any Coalition bid to form government.

Under a policy announced on Wednesday, the Greens want at least 1 per cent of the federal budget to be used to protect Australia’s environment, prevent extinction and arrest biodiversity decline.

This equates to about $8 billion in 2025/26, against total expenditure in the budget of more than $785 billion.

It would provide an extra $17 billion in “investment in nature” over the forward estimates, or double current government expenditure, according to Parliamentary Library research cited by the Greens.

“Nature needs us, the forests need us and the koalas need us,” Greens environment spokeswoman Sarah Hanson-Young said.

“This election is vital for saving our environment.”

Bandt also wants an incoming minority government to expand Medicare-covered dental services to all Australians, echoing the Greens’ successful push in 2010 to include children’s dental care in Medicare under the minority Gillard Labor government.

The Greens also want taxes on big corporations, koala habitats protected, a halt to native forest logging and greenwashing to be made illegal.

But, for many voters, action on climate change has played second fiddle to cost-of-living concerns.

Labor’s actions in weakening Australia’s environmental protections in favour of Tasmanian salmon farming jobs during the last parliamentary sitting week brought the issue back to the public consciousness.

The government was elected in 2022 promising to act on climate and, specifically, to reform Australia’s environmental law.

However, the changes have been beset by delays and political games, with Albanese overruling Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek in November to scupper a deal that would have helped create a national Environment Protection Agency.

As a result, the Greens have vowed to use their post-election position to force the hand of a new government.

“Labor will break their promises again unless there are more Greens there to hold them to account and get them to act,” Bandt said.

The minor party hopes to wrest the Adelaide seat of Sturt from the Liberals, alongside some of Labor’s inner-city Melbourne seats.

It’s also attempting to sandbag support at three urban Brisbane electorates.

-with AAP