(Bloomberg) -- Australia is better prepared for a return of President-elect Donald Trump to the White House than it was in 2016 following a concerted effort to build ties with his allies and supporters, according to former Ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos.
“Before the election in the US, there was a lot of activity in Australia to work out who is going to win and, if so, what are the policies going to be,” Sinodinos said Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg Television in Sydney. “The Australian government will be relatively well-prepared for what’s coming.”
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The center-left Labor government has been working extensively behind the scenes to avoid a repeat of the chaotic scramble following Trump’s victory in 2016, when it had to turn to golfer Greg Norman to get in contact with the then president-elect.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong met with Trump’s former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a recent visit to Washington, while Treasurer Jim Chalmers spoke at length with economic adviser Scott Bessent, who is a potential pick as treasury secretary in a second Trump administration.
Sinodinos said it is important for Australia to remind the incoming president of the importance of regional groupings in the Indo-Pacific, adding that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will need to adopt an “unsentimental” mindset in dealing with the new administration.
“It’s not so much we need them, they need us,” Sinodinos said. “Because American security is intimately tied up with the Indo Pacific. It’s a Pacific power, China is rising.”
The former ambassador said Australia is in a better position to navigate the tensions between the US and China following an improvement in ties between Beijing and Canberra, leading to the relaxation of trade curbs imposed on Australian exports.
“There’s got to be a way of handling the rise of China in a way that deters aggression but also channels the rise in constructive ways for the global economy,” he said.
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