Australians more anxious about Trump tariffs than China, poll shows

FILE PHOTO: A Chemist Warehouse store in Sydney, Australia, on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025. While Australia received the minimum 10 per cent levy on its exports to the US, it could still be in the firing line for sectoral tariffs on industries such as pharmaceuticals. - Bloomberg

CANBERRA: Australians are more worried about the Trump administration’s protectionist trade policies than China’s military buildup in the Asia-Pacific region, a new opinion poll showed.

Some 42 per cent of respondents named US tariffs as their top concern compared with 37 per cent who cited the strategic threat from China, according to a Newspoll published Monday (Aug 18) in The Australian. A further 21 per cent said neither bothered them, the survey conducted Aug. 11-14 for the newspaper showed. It had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.