Australia consistently ranks in the top five countries with trade surpluses with the United States, usually landing in the third or fourth spot. This makes it unique compared to other trading partners. While the possibility for tariffs exist, as was threatened in 2017, Australia’s status as a strong trading partner means there is less incentive to threaten that relationship than there is with China, Canada and Mexico, who have some of the largest deficits with the United States.
It is unlikely Australia will export more to the United States in the short term. As USSC Senior Economic Adviser Dr John Kunkel told the Australian Financial Review, “In terms of US imports, the bulk of that is now in a whole range of manufactured areas where we don’t have relative advantages, either at a high-tech or a relatively low-tech level. We’re not a major manufacturer.”
While Australia is on better footing than most countries when it comes to trade and the United States, the economic tools are driving many of the geopolitical trends in Trump’s first 100 days. To read more about the role of economic trends in the year ahead, check out Australia’s economic security outlook: Expert perspectives on challenges facing Australia in 2025.
