Trump’s America first politics ‘wrong morally’, Malcolm Turnbull says

Malcolm Turnbull has ramped up his criticism of Donald Trump, calling the US President’s brand of politics “wrong morally”.

The two men have been trading verbal blows after Mr Turnbull said Mr Trump was playing into China’s hands and described him as “chaotic, rude, abusive and erratic” in a recent interview.

Mr Trump responded by calling Mr Turnbull “weak and ineffective”.

Mr Turnbull said on Tuesday people were “deluding themselves about Trump” and “failing to recognise that he says the quiet bits out loud”.

“America first — he wants to use American power and American strength, economic and military, to advantage America at the expense of others,” he told the ABC.

“Now that is … wrong. It’s wrong morally. But the problem is, it will … certainly result in a downturn in economic activity around the world.

“Maybe, as many people have said, a global recession, and it certainly advantages America’s rivals or competitors, whether it’s Russia or China, because the less attractive America is, the more people will say, ‘Well, you know, maybe we should pay more attention to the blandishments from Beijing.’”

He went on to say Mr Trump’s approach was “self-defeating” and that “we should have the courage of our convictions”.

“Because if we don’t again, we’ll just, we’ll become victims,” Mr Turnbull said.

Since leaving politics in 2018, the ex-Liberal leader has spoken candidly about dealing with Mr Trump’s first administration, during which he was able to negotiate an exemption from US tariffs on steel and aluminium.

Seven years later, the Albanese government faces the same challenge, with blanket 25 per cent levies set to kick in this week.

Earlier, Peter Dutton defended his old boss, whom he helped turf out as leader.

The Opposition Leader credited Mr Turnbull with securing an Australian carve out and called on Anthony Albanese to do the same.

“Firstly, I don’t agree with the analysis of Malcolm’s time as leader,” Mr Dutton told Seven, referring to Mr Trump’s remarks.

“Second point is, I think that the most important aspect now is not on the tit-for-tat, it’s on how we preserve Australian jobs, and that’s really in the hands of the Prime Minister.

“The Prime Minister has the responsibility, as Malcolm Turnbull did when he was prime minister to negotiate with the then Trump administration for an exemption to the tariffs.”

He said Mr Albanese “needs to … roll his sleeves up and get this deal done so that workers jobs and the economic activity can be preserved”.

More to come.