Australian trade minister Don Farrell has rejected US President Donald Trump’s “dead economy” dig at India, saying his country sees India as a nation full of “fantastic opportunities”.
Don Farrell added that Australia is opposed to tariffs, whether directed at Australia or India, a day after foreign minister Penny Wong criticised Donald Trump's unprecedented 50 per cent tariffs on Indian goods, The Indian Express reported.
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Amid strains in the India-US trade ties, Farrell called for deeper economic engagement with New Delhi, backing Adani’s mining projects in Queensland and supporting uranium exports to India.
“Australia is keen to increase investment in India. Like Australia, India is a thriving democracy, and we want to work with countries like India to boost our two-way trade and to boost our investment… We see great opportunities in India,” Farrell told reporters.
“Australia is often described as the lucky country, and in terms of the minerals, critical minerals and rare earths are going to be needed to make the transition to net zero, and Australia is lucky again. We have the world’s largest or second-largest reserves of all of those critical minerals and rare earths. We want to share our good luck with the people of India… improve the supply chain between Australia and India,” he added.
Speaking on the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement, Farrell said Australia had sent its top negotiator to New Delhi and held a “productive” round of talks.
He added that he had already spoken twice over Zoom with commerce minister Piyush Goyal and was seeking another conversation this week.
Reacting to the Donald Trump administration's tariffs on India, he said, “We are a country that believes in free and fair trade. We believe that the best way of ensuring prosperity for our workers and our country is to continue with free, fair and open trade. So we don’t support the imposition of tariffs, whether they be on Australia or India. Your relationship with the United States is something for you to work through. But only this week, I have met with officials of the US government to make it clear that our view is that the 10% tariff that we have imposed on Australia is not the right way to go.”
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The United States on Wednesday doubled its tariffs on Indian goods to as high as 50 per cent, citing New Delhi’s buying of Russian oil - the most punishing rate among US trading partners on a par with Brazil, in a move economists say could hurt growth and jobs.