Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has asked President Donald Trump to exempt Australia from the 12.5 per cent tariff on Australian goods, raising the request in a 40-minute phone call on Thursday 13 August.
The public confirmation came on 14 August, the day after the call, when the Prime Minister set out what he had asked for and what the President said in reply, according to the reports of the call.
The outcome was a commitment to consider an exemption, and the tariff remains in force. Australia disputes the grounds on which it was imposed.
An exemption would take Australian goods out of the levy. Without one, the 12.5 per cent rate continues to apply to Australian goods entering the United States.
What Was Asked
According to the Canberra Times and Free Malaysia Today, Mr Albanese asked for a full exemption from the levy, or at the least no increase in the 12.5 per cent rate. The first outcome would lift the charge on Australian goods, and the second would keep the rate where it stands.
The Canberra Times reported that he pushed the case for the tariff’s removal during the call, with a full exemption as the primary request and a freeze on the existing rate as the fallback. The freeze would leave the rate at 12.5 per cent.
Mr Albanese said he had asked for the exemption, Free Malaysia Today reported. The Prime Minister made his account of the call public on 14 August, and it was reported by the Canberra Times, Free Malaysia Today and Bloomberg.
He put the request to the President directly in the call on Thursday 13 August, while the tariff was already in force.
How the Tariff Was Imposed
The United States imposed the levy in July over forced-labour claims. Australian goods have carried the tariff since, and it stayed in place through the call. The levy has not been lifted or suspended.
Australia disputes the grounds for the measure, and the tariff exemption request does not accept the forced-labour claims as a basis for it. The objection to those claims predates the call.
The dispute over the claims has not been settled by the call, and the levy continues to apply while the request is considered by the President.
Importers pay the tariff when goods enter the United States, which raises the cost of Australian products in that market.
The Case Australia Put
In the call, the Prime Minister argued Australia’s case against the levy on several fronts, according to the Canberra Times.
He pointed to the free trade agreement between the two countries, the trade surplus in the relationship, and Australian superannuation investment in the United States.
The two-way trade target between the two countries was also raised as part of the case, the Canberra Times reported.
The agreement, the surplus and the superannuation investment formed the basis of the exemption request.
Each element was cited as a reason for the tariff to be lifted or, at the least, held at its present level, with the exemption as the outcome Australia sought from the call.
What Was Agreed
The President “agreed to give consideration” to the request, the Prime Minister said, in an account carried by Bloomberg.
The only commitment to come out of the call was to consider an exemption, and no exemption has been granted. A commitment to consider is not a decision to grant, and the levy has not been lifted as a result of the call.
The reports of the call record no commitment beyond that consideration, and the tariff remains in force in the meantime.
Australia asked for the levy to be lifted or frozen, and the response was a commitment to consider the request.
The Modern Slavery Question
The grounds for the tariff are forced-labour claims, and Australia disputes them. The United States attached the claims to the levy when it was imposed in July.
The exemption request does not accept that basis, and the argument over the claims remains open after the call.
The claims relate to modern slavery, the term used for practices such as forced labour, and they remain the stated reason for the levy.
Neither the dispute over the claims nor the question of the exemption was settled on 14 August.
Until an exemption is granted, the tariff continues to apply to Australian goods as it has since July. The call took place on Thursday 13 August, the confirmation followed on 14 August, and the request now rests on the consideration the President agreed to give.
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Sources: Canberra Times, https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/9330134/pm-pushes-case-for-tariff-removal-in-trump-phone-call/; Free Malaysia Today, https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/business/2026/08/14/australian-pm-says-asked-trump-for-tariff-exemption; Bloomberg, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-08-13/trump-agreed-to-consider-australia-tariff-request-albanese-says
Photo: Daniel Torok, Official White House Photo, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
