Trade Minister Don Farrell is pushing to meet his United States counterpart on the sidelines of a major summit as Australia works to negotiate tariff relief.
Senator Farrell has requested a meeting with trade representative Jamieson Greer at the ASEAN summit, which will be held in Malaysia in October.
Australia was hit with baseline tariffs by US President Donald Trump but has escaped the wrath of increased trade barriers he has imposed on other nations.
A deal for greater US access to critical minerals in exchange for tariff reprieves was rejected.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been critical of the US tariffs, branding them an act of "economic self harm" but has ruled out retaliation as he called for open global trade.
The federal government is also working on other trade agreements as it seeks to diversify markets to protect itself from global shocks such as US tariffs or Chinese coercion.
An elusive free trade agreement with the European Union is inching closer, with the bloc's trade chief Maros Sefcovic slated to come to Australia in the coming months, possibly October.
Negotiations with Brussels stalled after an impasse over Australia's demand for greater access to European agriculture markets, with a deal yet to be reached despite Canberra offering to put scrapping a luxury car tax on the table.
A free trade agreement with India has been equally as elusive but there are positive signs for Australia as the Indians look to shore up trading relationships following heavy tariffs leveraged on it by the White House.
A rift has emerged between Washington and New Delhi, with Mr Trump imposing tariffs as high as 50 per cent after criticising its purchase of Russian oil.
It was amongst the highest tax rates Mr Trump imposed.
The federal opposition continues to criticise the prime minister for not having met with Mr Trump face to face, with coalition trade spokesperson Kevin Hogan saying the US was one of Australia's most important markets.
He said Australia had been missing out on concessions other countries had negotiated from the White House, although no nation has gotten an all out exemption.
Some of the negotiated outcomes were still higher than Australia's baseline 10 per cent rate.
There is also a 25 per cent tariff on Australian steel and aluminium that's imported into the US, although demand remains high.
