Australians more anxious about Trump tariffs than about China’s military build-up, poll shows

SYDNEY - Australians are more worried about the

Trump administration’s protectionist trade policies

than China’s military build-up in the Asia-Pacific region, a new opinion poll showed.

Some 42 per cent of respondents named US tariffs as their top concern, compared with 37 per cent who cited the strategic threat from China, according to a Newspoll published on Aug 18 in The Australian. A further 21 per cent said neither bothered them, said the survey conducted from Aug 11 to 14 for the newspaper. It had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.

While Australia received the minimum 10 per cent levy on its exports to the US, it could still be in the firing line for sectoral tariffs on industries such as pharmaceuticals. More generally, it is heavily exposed to global trade as an export-reliant nation and could also see blowback on import duties from its largest trading partner, China.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese undertook a six-day visit to China in July that included meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing. While there, he focused heavily on boosting business and trade ties, sidestepping thornier issues around US-China competition, Taiwan and Beijing’s military assertiveness.

University-educated voters were more worried about US tariffs than China’s military expansion, according to the survey. The results were more evenly split for those without university education, it said.

On local politics, Newspoll showed Mr Albanese’s Labor Party leading the centre-right coalition 56 per cent to 44 per cent, up slightly from the May 3 election result that delivered Labor 94 seats in the 150-member parliament. The prime minister’s net satisfaction rating also turned positive for the first time since September 2023, it showed. BLOOMBERG