Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Australians would "speak for ourselves" on global trade.

Australia has swiftly turned down China’s offer to “join hands” against Donald Trump’s tariffs, as Washington escalates its trade war with Beijing.

The White House recently imposed an import tax of 10% on Australian goods, but for China - Australia’s biggest trading partner - raised tariffs to 125%.

China’s ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian argued joint resistance is “the only way” to stop the “hegemonic and bullying behaviour of the US”, appealing for Canberra’s cooperation in an opinion piece on Thursday.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, however, said Australians would “speak for ourselves”, while the country’s defence minister said the nation would not be “holding China’s hand”.

  • enkersEnglish
    193·
    3 days ago

    While I appreciate what China has been doing in the green energy sector, let’s not pretend it’s out of anything other than self preservation. They’re just prescient enough to realise that they need to move away from fossil fuels to not destroy their own future.

    Wish I could say the same for other Western democracies. We’re too hellbent on maintaining materialistic consumerism to properly invest in our own future.

    • Ledericas@lemm.eeEnglish
      11·
      2 days ago

      Besides that, one of their other major concerns is population, apparently they are trying to get a headstart on fixing it?

    • evenglow@lemmy.worldEnglish
      816·
      3 days ago

      So what? China fixed climate change and is willing to sell affordable solar and batteries and EVs to the world.

      USA did not do that. China did.

      • enkersEnglish
        81·
        3 days ago

        My point is that acting out of self interest doesn’t constitute being “nice”. They’re still willing to meddle in the internal politics of other nations if it benefits themselves, just like the US is.

      • lolo@lemm.eeEnglish
        83·
        3 days ago

        China fixed climate change?

        EDIT: I genuinely didn’t know climate change had been “fixed.” This is great news!! You’d think more people would mention it.

        • evenglow@lemmy.worldEnglish
          25·
          3 days ago

          “The bottom line is that the world runs on imported fossil fuels under the umbrella of the Pax Americana,” said Kingsmill Bond, an energy analyst at Ember, a London-based energy think tank. “As Trump destabilizes that, then people will look to their own domestic energy sources, which in most cases means renewables and electrification.”

          The new order that Bond is describing would push the United States to the side. While this view is optimistic about global growth of renewables, heat pumps and EVs, it also indicates a slower and dirtier path for the U.S.

          Bond argues that since most countries do not have plentiful oil and gas within their borders, they need to import it and have confidence in the stability of supply and pricing. As that confidence erodes, they will look to alternatives.

          Most countries do not have substantial solar panel, wind turbine or battery production, so reliance on those resources would also require imports. But the difference compared to fossil fuels is that a shipment of solar panels, for example, can provide benefits for 30 years. The buyer isn’t signing up for dependence on daily shipments of fuel.