Anthony Albanese will seek a phone call with Donald Trump on US tariff negotiations should he be re-elected as prime minister after Saturday’s election.

The US President has confirmed he’s aware the federal government has been trying to get in touch to reach a trade deal, after Australia was slapped with 10 per cent tariffs on goods exports to America.

“They are calling and I will be talking to [Albanese], yes,” Trump told reporters at the White House overnight.

The Prime Minister said Trump’s remark was a “throwaway comment”, but indicated he would aim for a phone conversation, depending on the outcome of Saturday’s election.

“I’m not staying up at night trying to ring anyone at the moment, I’m in an election campaign,” Albanese told ABC Radio on Wednesday.

“I’m sure if we are successful we will have a discussion after Saturday,” he said.

“We have a relationship. We’ve already had a couple of phone calls, but I assure you that my campaign is front and centre.”

Albanese said while a phone call with Trump was not a guarantee, a conversation with world leaders such as the US President was likely after the election, should he win a second term.

At the final leaders’ debate of the campaign on Sunday, Albanese said he wasn’t sure if the US president had a mobile when asked if he had his number, before adding that such matters were usually conducted on a more official basis.

Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash said the fact that Albanese hadn’t been able to get another one-on-one call with Trump showed there was no relationship with the Australian ally under Labor.

“The previous coalition government – which, because of the nature of the relationship that we had – we were successful in getting the exemption from the steel and aluminium tariffs (under the previous Trump administration),” Cash said.

“So after this election we look forward – if we are elected – to speaking with our greatest ally, the United States of America,” she added.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said while Australia wasn’t the only country affected by US tariffs, the government was “uniquely well placed” to argue its case for their removal.

“We’ve made it clear we’re engaging wherever we can, whenever we can – obviously, that happens at the highest levels as well,” Chalmers told ABC radio.

“We think that those tariffs are unwarranted, we think they’re unwise,” he said.

“Treasury modelling … makes it clear we are concerned about the impact on global demand and global growth.”

The US President’s comments were being viewed in a positive light, Labor minister Murray Watt said.

“We have to take him at his word on that and we look forward to being able to continue the engagement we’ve had with the American administration about the tariffs that we think are totally unjustified,” he told Nine’s Today show on Wednesday.

Watt confirmed that Australia’s approaches were being conducted at various levels, including the ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd and department officials, given the Labor government was in caretaker mode ahead of Saturday’s election.

The US has also slapped a 25 per cent tariff on Australian steel and aluminium exports to the US.

The goods tariff took effect on April 5 while the steel and aluminium tariff began on March 12.

Dutton leans on One Nation

Meanwhile, Peter Dutton has ruled out forming a minority government with One Nation, despite the coalition striking a preference arrangement with Pauline Hanson.

The opposition has preferenced One Nation at number two on its how-to-vote cards in several crucial marginal seats, following a surge in support in the far-right minor party’s primary vote.

But the opposition leader said Hanson wouldn’t be part of any future coalition government after Saturday’s federal election, if it results in a hung parliament.

“I wouldn’t be mucking around with independents and third parties at this election. I really wouldn’t,” he told reporters in Melbourne on Wednesday.

“We don’t want to see a European situation where you’ve got a handful of Greens and left-leaning teal candidates who are holding the government to ransom; that is not going to be good for us.”

Dutton also said the coalition wouldn’t pursue teal independent MPs to form a minority government.

Hanson said while there was no formal preference deal with the opposition, coalition voters had drifted towards One Nation.

“A lot of the sitting members within the Liberal Party agree with my policies, they know we’re on the same page,” she told AAP.

“It’s sending a clear message to conservative voters that we are seen to be working together.”

Meanwhile, after days of questions about the coalition’s election costings, the opposition is set to release the numbers on Thursday.

“We’ll release our costings, and it will show a better bottom line under the coalition than the Labor Party,” Dutton said.

Dutton also defended members of Christian sect, the Exclusive Brethren, volunteering for the Liberal Party in marginal seats.

The Brethren are volunteering even though their members will not turn out to vote, for religious reasons.

“People of Christian faiths support both sides of politics and people of no faith support both sides of politics,” Dutton said.

“People ultimately can make a decision about who they want to support — in a democracy we have freedom of speech.”

With just three days until the election, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will lay out his vision for a second term in office in a set-piece speech to the National Press Club.

It follows the national election in Canada, where a centre-left government was returned on the back of anti-Donald Trump sentiment amongst voters, despite being behind the opposition conservative party in the polls earlier in the year.

While that outcome has given Labor a bit of lift, Albanese stressed the situation for incumbent governments was still challenging.

“We have governed through very difficult times … we know that that’s the case, and around the globe it has been a difficult time to be in government,” he told ABC Radio.

Political strategist Jack Milroy, who has worked on progressive campaigns in Canada and Australia, said the US relationship would be less of a factor on Saturday but voters were still conscious of the global instability.

“The Canadian example has kind of shown that a strong approach to the US seems to pay dividends politically,” he told AAP.

“The Labor Party is in a good position for our election, but it will be interesting to see how they relate to the US going forward.”

Most polls are showing Labor ahead of the coalition on a preferred party basis, although a minority government remains a possible outcome.

-AAP