Australia will avoid Donald Trump’s latest tariff escalation after he said the US would soon begin implementing reciprocal import duties on its trading partners.

President Donald Trump’s desire to get even on countries by matching tariffs they have on American goods could come at a steep cost.

By comparison, less than $1 billion of steel and aluminium was exported to the US in 2023, according to data from UN Comtrade, consisting of about $500 million of aluminium and less then $400 million of steel. Exports to the US account for about 10% of Australia’s total exports of these metals.