Australia has to engage the Trump administration on the positive, practical effects of global engagement to get the ear of a president focused on his domestic constituency, according to the Turnbull government’s man in Washington.
Joe Hockey has used a speech to the Lowy Institute marking Donald Trump’s first year in the White House to share some observations about the administration and its agenda, and about Australian efforts to keep Trump engaged in the world.
The ambassador said on Thursday evening Australia needed the US to remain outward-looking, “even as it faces its domestic challenges”.
He said Australia had an obligation to explain to the administration “why we believe Paris matters to Pittsburgh, why beef trade protection hurts Montana or why foreign investment delivers jobs in Mobile, Alabama, or Des Moines, Iowa”.
Hockey said it was also important to pursue diplomacy outside the beltway. “It’s an important tool in the tradecraft of diplomacy to engage in advocacy beyond the corridors of the state department or the hallowed halls of the Congress,” he said.
Hockey said stepping outside Washington was an acknowledgment that the Trump administration was “responding to the wishes of the American people”. He said it was important to look beyond Washington to understand the unfolding events in the US, developments often playing out “at warp speed”.
The ambassador said going to a business meeting in New York, or watching news produced out of the capital or the west coast “doesn’t give you a true understanding of what’s really happening in America”.
He said Australia’s “city-centric” view of the US did not reflect the diversity of the country and the change currently under way. Rather than changing the country, Hockey said, Trump was “responding to some of their demands”. He said Australia was focused in its diplomacy on defending free trade and pursuing new opportunities in infrastructure.
While Trump remained controversial abroad, Hockey noted that the president had not lost his core supporters and he predicted if Americans went to the polls today, he would be re-elected as president.
Hockey said Trump’s decision to bulldoze regulations put in place by previous president Barrack Obama had increased business confidence. He noted the Dow Jones industrial average had increased by over 30% since Trump took the White House.
“Many factors are at play but the surge in the US economy is not unrelated,” he said.
Hockey noted Trump was active with judicial appointments. He had nominated 59 federal judges and 14 had been confirmed. He said the field evidence suggested Trump was “learning how to use the power of the office to reshape policy”.
