WA’s industry heavyweights meet at snap roundtable to plan economic strategy amid impact of Trump’s tariffs

WA’s industry heavyweights have laid out to the Government what needs to happen to maintain the State’s status as an economic powerhouse amid business concerns over the impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs. Premier Roger Cook convened the emergency roundtable of more than three dozen of State’s brightest captains of industry on Wednesday, including resource bosses and prominent business leaders to discuss what was needed to protect WA’s economic prosperity. The West Australian understands there were four key themes stemming from the three-hour long meeting, including the need to assure the future of workforce planning, upgrades to energy infrastructure for the renewables rollout, further planning and environmental approvals reforms, and identification and refinement of common use infrastructure for projects. “True progress happens when government, business and unions are on the same page,” Mr Cook told The West after the meeting. “Led by our world-leading resources sector, Western Australia has the strongest economy in the nation and is the best place in Australia to get a quality job. “My Government has worked hard with the private sector to get to this point by reforming planning and environmental approvals, increasing traineeships and apprenticeships, and creating a record pipeline of economic infrastructure. “I want WA to be a global leader in investment attraction, industry facilitation and regulation — and working together as Team WA, we can make that a reality.” Mr Cook’s calling of the meeting was prompted by Mr Trump’s trade war tariffs — which escalated in the hours prior, when the US President inked revised steel tariffs, which increased from 25 per cent to 50 per cent. “We should also consider the current seismic shifts occurring across the geopolitical landscape — the sweeping tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration have turned the global trading environment on its head,” the Premier told attendees at the opening. “While Western Australia has limited direct exposure to the tariffs, our strong trade relationship with nations like China and Japan means we may be impacted indirectly.” The trade war’s indirect impact is sapping confidence from WA’s business community, with almost two thirds of businesses — which included mostly small and medium-sized operations — telling the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of growing concerns. In a survey of 461 businesses by the CCI about the impact of US tariffs on supply chains, 60 per cent said they expected to hit problems. More than a quarter (27 per cent), said they would be extremely or moderately impacted by the US government’s trade decisions. Thirteen per cent said they would look to diversify their trade markets as a result. “The impact of US tariffs on global trade flows will hit different sectors of our economy in different ways, but it is clear that there are opportunities to build WA’s resilience to drive growth through times of uncertainty,” CCIWA chief executive Peter Cock said after the meeting. “Today’s roundtable allows us to give a voice to the small and medium businesses who could be impacted, and we will take today’s findings forward with our membership.” Among the business heavyweights around the table were Woodside’s Meg O’Neill and Richard Goyder, BHP’s Tim Day, developer Nigel Satterley, Wesfarmers chairman Michael Chaney, Roy Hill’s Sanjiv Manchanda, and Rio Tinto’s Simon Trott. Mr Trott said he sought to raise the State’s productivity going into the future. “WA is tremendously successful based on good policy, innovation, businesses coming together and it’s about how we do that going forward for future generations as well,” he said. “The Premier and West Australian government us to be congratulated for getting business and government together to talk about how we continue to drive innovation, how we continue to drive productivity and set the State up for success in the longer term. “I certainly enjoyed being part of the discussions. It’s always great to hear different perspectives, and it’s always great to be heard.” Ms O’Neill described the conversations as “open”. Chamber of Minerals and Energy of Western Australia chief executive Rebecca Tomkinson called for policy certainty to underline future success. “CME welcomes the Cook Government’s initiative, and the opportunity to represent our members in consultation that seeks to support industry resilience and growth,” she said. “A co-ordinated approach to global market challenges makes sense and strengthens the argument for increasing WA’s capacity for diversification, removing regulatory and infrastructure bottlenecks, and establishing investment-friendly policy settings. “WA is a well-established, top-tier resources jurisdiction with strong ESG credentials and a stable operating environment - but to remain globally competitive, we must continue to optimise this position through policy certainty, infrastructure readiness, and streamlined approvals.” Mr Cook was joined by Cabinet colleagues Rita Saffioti, Amber-Jade Sanderson, Mines Minister David Michael, Ports Minister Stephen Dawson and Defence Industries Minister Paul Papalia. The Government will take the themes from the event, and work closely with the CCI and the Chamber of Minerals and Energy WA — which both had a role in organising the meeting — to develop actions.