Trump, Turnbull swap praise on immigration, taxes
>> WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump and Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull put their “mateship’’ on full display on Friday at the White House as they took turns praising each other’s approaches on immigration and taxes.
Their relationship got off to a rocky start a year ago, but none of that was evident as they prepared to field questions from journalists in the East Room after an afternoon of talks, including about jobs.
Mr Trump congratulated Mr Turnbull on “your immigration reforms and on Australia’s commitment to merit-based immigration”.
“Are my friends from Congress listening to that? Merit based,’’ said Mr Trump, who has been arguing for changes to turn the US immigration system into one that is more focused on merit and the skills immigrants bring to the US, and less focused on family ties. His immigration demands have upset lawmakers, mostly Democrats.
“We want to do merit-based immigration also,’’ Mr Trump said, adding that such a system “really protects the interest of Australia and its people.
“It’s the way to go. And you’ve been very successful with it,’’ Mr Trump continued. “Here, we’re working very hard to do the same. In that sense, we’re going to, hopefully, follow in your footprints.’’
When it was his turn to speak, Mr Turnbull complimented Mr Trump by calling the president’s decision to cut taxes “one of the most powerful arguments’’ he is using to persuade lawmakers to further reduce business taxes back home.
Mr Trump signed a US$1.5 trillion tax cut into law in December, significantly shaving taxes for corporations and the wealthy while providing more modest breaks for middle-class individuals. The Republican president and his economic advisers have argued that dropping the corporate tax rate from 35% to 21% will benefit workers through greater investment in the US and in those companies, and through the creation of good-paying jobs. No Democrats voted to cut taxes.
Mr Turnbull, who was accompanied by the largest Australian political and business delegation ever to visit the US, said he and Mr Trump spent a lot of time talking about jobs. Mr Turnbull told Mr Trump that Australians have been “inspired, I have to say, by your success in securing the passage of the tax reforms”.
Mr Turnbull said some corporate taxes in Australia have been cut, “but we’ve got more work to do’’.
“The economic stimulus that your reforms have delivered here in the United States is one of the most powerful arguments that we are deploying to persuade our legislature to support reducing business tax,’’ the prime minister told Mr Trump. “Because, as you are demonstrating and as we all know, when you cut company tax, most of the benefit goes to workers. It produces more investment. And, when you get more investment, you get more jobs.’’
Mr Trump opened the news conference with good news for Mr Turnbull, announcing that a still-to-be built US combat ship will be named the USS Canberra to honour an Australian cruiser that was lost fighting alongside the US Navy during World War II. Canberra is Australia’s capital.
Mr Trump said the ship will symbolise the “enduring friendship’’ between the US and Australia as it sails the open sea. “There is no closer friendship,’’ he said.
Mr Turnbull appeared elated, noting that the ship will be built by an Australian company in Mobile, Alabama.