‘We hope’: Aus warning after Trump win

Opposition finance spokeswoman Jane Hume is calling for “economic resilience” in Australia following Donald Trump’s historic White House comeback.

President-elect Trump has floated slapping blanket tariffs of up to 20 per cent on all foreign imports in a bid to usher in a new age of American manufacturing.

He has also said he would impose a levy of up to 100 per cent on goods from China, which is considered the main threat to Western economic and military dominance.

Senator Hume said on Monday she hoped Australia would not be a casualty in Mr Trump’s America-first agenda.

“We would hope that the relationship goes so deep and so wide that we wouldn’t, that that’s not a concern that we would have,” the Coalition frontbencher told Sky News.

“However, it is going to be important that we maintain both economic resilience and diplomatic tact in order to make sure that that relationship maintains its strength.”

Treasury chief Steven Kennedy revealed last week that officials had modelled Mr Trump’s geo-economic ideas and warned that they would have “flow-on consequences” for Australia.

Dr Kennedy said Mr Trump’s tariffs would increase inflation in the US while hurting growth in both the US and Chinese economies.

He added that growth in Australia would also take hit due to a slowdown in China.

Meanwhile, independent modelling has found the levies could cost American consumers up to $80bn.

But Mr Trump’s isolationist brand has also sparked concerns about his commitment to multilateral defence institutions, such as NATO and AUKUS.

He has accused NATO states of not paying their fair share and threatened to pull out of the security pact.

Speaking to the ABC, Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy brushed off concerns about the future of AUKUS.

“It’s in the strategic interest of all three countries involved. This is not charity,” he told the national broadcaster.

“This is about the three countries enhancing our defence capability.

“The second reason why I’m confident is that there is strong bipartisan support in the United States for AUKUS.”

Mr Trump beat incumbent US Vice President Kamala Harris in both electoral and popular votes.

Having secured both the US House of Representatives and the Senate, he will be able to push through his policy agenda unhindered when taking office in January next year.