Dire warning from George Brandis that Australia will suffer if trade war between US and China escalates

Australia could become ‘losers’ if a trade war breaks out between the US and China in the next Trump era, former Attorney-General George Brandis has warned.

US President-elect Donald Trump promised throughout the election he would introduce 60 per cent tariffs on China effective immediately once he takes office in January. 

The proposed tariff has left many Australians questioning how it could impact the close export trade it shares with China.

Appearing on the panel of ABC’s Q+A program on Monday night, Mr Brandis warned that Australia could expect to become the ‘losers’ of the possible global trade war between the two powerhouse nations.

Worsening our position is the lack of Australian leaders with a close connection to Trump, with some even called out for previously poking fun at the former president – including US ambassador Kevin Rudd.

Without establishing a personal relationship, the effects of action against China on Australia’s economy could be dismissed by Trump. 

‘Anything that damages China – and particularly weakens China’s demand to what we sell to China – will have an obvious impact on the Australian economy and flow through across the sectors,’ Mr Brandis said.

‘There are very few countries in the world that are more exposed to international trade and free trade than Australia. We are a trading nation, an exporting nation.

When questioned by host Patricia Karvelas (pictured) why Australia’s future relationship with the US would be worse than under Mr Turnbull, Mr Brandis highlighted his and Trump’s unique relationship

‘So we are towards the front of the queue of nations that will be prejudiced by American protectionism and economic nationalism.

‘We will be very much the losers in a global trade war.’ 

Mr Brandis now teaches at the Australian National University’s National Security College following his return from a four-year stint as the High Commissioner to the UK

He also shared an insight into how Australia will ‘manage’ President Trump in the coming years.

Mr Brandis said Trump’s second term of presidency will be a very different landscape to ‘Trump 1.0’, which heavily relied on the relationship then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull had with the president.

The pair had a turbulent relationship while they were leaders simultaneously in 2017-2018, which included an infamous phone conversation over a controversial refugee resettlement deal just days after Trump was sworn in as president.

Mr Brandis said: ‘Malcolm Turnbull was very, very good at managing Donald Trump, much better than virtually any world leader’ (pictured, Donald and Melania Trump)

‘I don’t think we should assume that the success that Malcolm Turnbull had for example, with Trump 1.0 getting an exemption from the steel and aluminum tariffs Trump imposed way back then would be repeated,’ Mr Brandis said.

When questioned by Q+A host Patricia Karvelas why Australia’s future relationship with the US would be worse off than under Mr Turnbull, Mr Brandis highlighted the pair’s unique relationship.

‘Malcolm Turnbull was very, very good at managing Donald Trump, much better than virtually any world leader,’ he said.

‘I don’t think that we should necessarily expect to have that.

Karvelas further pressed Mr Brandis on why he didn’t think Prime Minister Anthony Albanese or Opposition Leader Peter Dutton – should he win the next election – could handle Trump.

In response, Mr Brandis said ‘there was a particular relationship between Turnbull and Trump’. 

‘They got each other, they were in some ways from similar backgrounds, big billionaires,’ he said.

Mr Brandis added Mr Turnbull and Trump were similar but further clarified ‘in some respects, certainly as businessmen’ they shared similarities.