The prime minister has played down fears of the US slapping reciprocal measures on Australia as a response to looming American tariffs.

President Donald Trump announced the US would charge reciprocal tariffs on any country that imposed duties on American goods as a retaliation to 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium.

As Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited a steelworks in Port Kembla spruiking Australia’s domestic output, he said Australia was unlikely to get hit with the threat of reciprocal tariffs.

“Australia has (no tariffs) on the US, we have a free trade agreement, we support jobs,” he told reporters on Friday.

“We continue to put forward our case, which is a very simple one, Australia has zero tariffs on US goods coming into Australia.”

Mr Albanese spoke with Mr Trump on Tuesday, Australian time, with the US president agreeing to consider granting Australia an exemption to the steel and aluminium tariffs.

The tariffs are due to come into effect in March, but Australia was granted an exception to the measures during Mr Trump’s first term in the White House.

The prime minister said the trade surplus between the US and Australia was beneficial to the Australia case for an exemption.

“It is in Australia and the United States’ interests for us to have free and fair trade between our two countries,” he said.

“Australian steel and aluminium has contributed to the United States economy, contributed constructively, and our economic relationship is very important.”

Australian Steel Association chief executive David Buchanan said the possible tariffs on the material could see key Asian markets bolster Australia.

“If Japan, Korea and Vietnam have issues exporting to the US, they may focus back towards Australia and we may see increased attention from those countries to export steel to Australia,” he told AAP.

“We may see some improvements of the price of steel coming this way, and that’s good for construction and manufacturing in Australia, which we know is under pressure.”

Mr Buchanan said the tariffs during Mr Trump’s first term led overseas markets to focus more on Australia while the economic measures were in place.

While he said a similar scenario could happen again under the fresh tariffs global markets had changed dramatically since 2018.

“China now is not as dependent in steel exports to the US and have found other markets.

“The dynamics are going to be different this time and while we’re not expecting a major rush to Australia, certainly other countries are going to.”

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said any US tariffs on Australia would be detrimental to the bilateral relationship.

“There is a deal, I’m sure, to be done with the United  States and there is a lot Australia has to offer, but it’s wrong that these tariffs are in place,” he told Nine’s Today program.

“As the president’s demonstrated, he’s a deal maker and I think the prime minister, frankly, should have been preparing the ground long before this decision was made.”

This post was originally published on Michael West.