‘We have other friends’: Former Trump adviser tells PM to stand firm

An Australian former adviser to the US president says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese should not be afraid to stand firm to Donald Trump when they finally meet at the White House later this month.

Former Dow Chemical chief executive Andrew Liveris, who now heads the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games organising committee, told a business lunch in the Queensland capital on Thursday Albanese needed to avoid the trap of fawning over Trump, as so many world leaders had done.

Instead, Liveris said, Albanese should “be strong and say what he needs to say about our country”.

“This ‘how am I going to make [Trump] happy, so I can protect my country?’ is exactly the wrong way to approach it,” he said.

“What’s right for [Australia] should be the conversation and, if America doesn’t like it, we have other friends.”

While he said he would have advised Albanese to meet with Trump earlier, Liveris said the prime minister should enter the Oval Office with the knowledge – and confidence – that Australia holds many cards in the bilateral relationship.

“We’re needed by the United States – critical minerals? We’re needed. Security? We’re needed,” he said.

“We’re in the right region, and we are a decent countervailing force as a middle power to the ascent of China. So we’re on the right docket ... It doesn’t have to be kowtowing.

“Make that case.”

In his first term, Trump appointed Liveris to lead his American Manufacturing Council – a body that was dissolved after just 201 days after several members resigned in protest of his administration’s policies.

On Thursday, Liveris expressed similar concern about how the second Trump administration was playing out.

A compliant Department of Justice has started to prosecute the president’s political enemies, the American military was poised to act against its own citizenry and critical speech was being stifled through pressure from the Trump administration.

“There is no excuse for what’s going on with the demolishment of institutions – that’s what’s happening in Western society, the institutions are being demolished one by one by one,” Liveris said.

“So what does that need? It needs an opposition that actually makes that case – and makes it powerfully – why those transactional power plays need to be corrected.

“I think that will happen, but I do think it’s at least one more term – America’s not restored yet. America needs to find America again.

“America is about America today, and this is where most countries are getting it wrong.”

Earlier this week, Albanese told this masthead the purpose of the White House meeting with Trump was simply to continue building their relationship.

“I’ve had very constructive discussions and engagement with the president on five occasions now,” he said.

“It’s an important alliance for Australia, and it’s very positive. I look forward to [the meeting].”

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