CANBERRA

IN KEEPING WITH its role as America’s South Pacific lapdog, Australia may just bend over and take whatever Donald Trump delivers by way of trade tariffs.

“We’re so dependent on the Americans, that just taking it up the transom is a likely policy in the face of US tariffs on our exports,” says Michael Dundee, a specialist in trade agreements. “The Yanks look on us as their bitch. They are now treating us as their bitch. And we may well act as their bitch. Business as usual.”