Other nations were not so sure. The minute Trump mentioned "Australia' in the White House, a source said Ambassador Joe Hockey received phone calls from other nations who had been seeking a carve-out, asking "how did you manage that, he didn't give a shout out to the UK which wanted an exemption".

Show of force

It was due to a full court press, which began in July 2017, that involved the Prime Minister, senior ministers and, towards the end, a show of force at the White House by a delegation of more than 20 of Australia's most senior business executives and golfer-turned-businessman Greg Norman.

"You can't force Trump to do anything, you have to let him come to it himself and that's what we did," said the source.

The culmination came just 24 hours before the tariff announcement, on Thursday afternoon (AEDT) in the Oval Office where a swarm of ministers, lawyers and officials were discussing the final decision.

Spoke to PM @TurnbullMalcolm of Australia. He is committed to having a very fair and reciprocal military and trade relationship. Working very quickly on a security agreement so we don’t have to impose steel or aluminum tariffs on our ally, the great nation of Australia! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 9, 2018

Among them were US Defence Secretary James Mattis and Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin. Both men had been lobbied by Australian Defence Minister Marise Payne and Cormann, both were sympathetic to Australia's case and they were arguing it to Trump in the White House.

"We knew Mattis was making these points to him the night before in the Oval Office. The thing that resonated with him were these arguments," the source said.


As Turnbull acknowledged on Friday: "I was very pleased to see the President acknowledge explicitly today, the strong points that I've been making to him and my colleagues have been making to his ministers."

Internally, there is strong praise for Payne, whose calls are always taken by Mattis, as well as for Cormann, Trade Minister Steve Ciobo and Hockey who, as a source said, has vindicated the decision to send a politician to Washington.

Malcolm Turnbull and Donald Trump at the White House: "You can't force Trump to do anything, you have to let him come to it himself and that's what we did," said the source. Alex Ellinghausen

Julie Bishop, too, did her best but her counterpart Rex Tillerson has limited influence on the President.

Building on legwork

The key was to get in Trump's ear early, just after he had commissioned the review that led to the tariff decision. As first revealed by The Australian Financial Review, that was done at the G20 in Hamburg by Turnbull and Cormann, in July 2017.

Building on legwork already done by Ciobo, BlueScope Steel and Rio Tinto, the Prime Minister and Cormann argued in a private meeting with Mnuchin and again in another meeting with Trump, Mnuchin and US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. And then in a separate meeting between Cormann and (soon to be former) White House chief economic adviser Gary Cohn.

The Australians left Germany very confident Australia would be carved out but, as with anything to do with Trump, nothing was taken for granted.


Trump went ahead and announced 25 per cent tariffs on steel and 10 per cent tariffs on aluminium. David Rowe

This was evidenced four months later, at the ASEAN summit in Manila, when there was a humorous exchange between Trump and Turnbull as the duo posed for the cameras with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, before they went behind closed doors for private talks on regional security.

Trump was cracking hardy about all the nations with which the US has a trade deficit, at which point Turnbull cut him off.

"Except with us – you've got a surplus with us."

Trump responded: "You're the only one. And I'll check it, I'll probably find out that wasn't..."

Malcolm Turnbull and Donald Trump at the White House. "I was very pleased to see the President acknowledge explicitly today, the strong points that I've been making to him and my colleagues have been making to his ministers," says Turnbull. Alex Ellinghausen

Turnbull: "Oh no, it's real. It's real Donald."

It was an example that Trump needed to be constantly reminded of the Australian arguments.


Strong relationship

This was ultimately illustrated only a fortnight ago when Turnbull and Ciobo left Washington DC after a three-day visit still unsure whether Australia would be exempted. Ciobo had lobbied Wilbur Ross and US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. They told him the decision was "up to the President".

"It's been a pretty rough fortnight since we left the White House," said a government insider.

"There were some moments where we weren't sure where we stood."

Credit is also being given to the Australian business leaders who accompanied Turnbull to the White House. During the meeting with Trump and Turnbull, Cohn noted that Anthony Pratt and Norman were among the delegation which would be attending the press conference in the ornate East Room.

Trump knows and admires both men and called for the entire delegation to be brought into the room where he met each, extending the meeting by 20 minutes.

While steel tariffs were not raised, the exchange demonstrated to Trump how strong the business relationship was and how Australian companies, BlueScope included, employ 180,000 Americans. Norman and five of the businessmen sent Trump a letter on Wednesday, again making the case.

"That played a part definitely, it was a show of how valuable we think the relationship is," the source said.