Australia and the rest of the world will need to get used to the trade war between the United States and China, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said.
The two superpowers continue to engage in their tit-for-tat tariff fight, with US President Donald Trump announcing earlier this month a new range of taxes on $US300 billion ($443 billion) in Chinese imports such as mobile phones.
Mr Morrison's pessimistic warning on the ongoing trade tensions comes ahead of his visit to the G7 Summit in the French coastal town of Biarritz this weekend.
He said negotiations between Washington DC and Beijing were continuing, but not as hoped.
"I was more confident going into the [2018] G20 meeting in Argentina, in Buenos Aires, and they did make quite a bit of progress there, but things really fell back after that," Mr Morrison told Channel Seven.
"There was an attempt to bring that back forward [at this year's G20] in Osaka, but we've seen what's happened since then.
"So I think we're going to have to get used to this for a while, this level of tension, and we've just got to accommodate that, we've got to absorb it, we've got to see the opportunities in it, of which there are many."
Mr Morrison said the United States made legitimate points about China's actions, and the pressures were being fuelled by the success of Beijing over the past few decades.
"Why would we want to contain China's growth? That would be a bit of a numpty of thing to do," he said.
"I thought that was the point of engaging with China, that they would get to a level of maturity in the economy, where they'd bring hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.
"Having achieved that critical mass of economic performance, the rules that apply to all of us, the United States, have got to apply to China as well.
"And the rules-based order where it comes to how technology is handled, how partnerships are formed, how payments are made … how you reduce emissions, for example, I mean we should all be subject to the same rules now."
Australia is treading a fine line in the trade war between its largest trading partner, China and its most significant security partner, the United States.
It is also grappling with Beijing's attempts to expand its influence in the Pacific, as Canberra actively lifts its efforts in the region to regain its strategic relevance among some of its closest neighbours.
But last week's Pacific Islands Forum has inflamed tensions, with leaders turning on Mr Morrison and accusing Australia of ignoring their concerns about issues such as climate change.
That has prompted counselling by the Federal Opposition, which has cautioned the Coalition to view the region as a development and aid opportunity, rather than a way to stymy China.
"I actually think it's really important that we not engage with the Pacific by reference to China," acting Opposition Leader Richard Marles told the ABC's RN.
"I fear that sometimes, that's the way Australia's gone about things, and as a result, it doesn't surprise me that you get comments of that kind coming back from the Pacific."
