Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has branded Donald Trump's decision to slap steep tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from Australia as 'entirely unjustified' and 'not a friendly act'.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed that Australia would not be exempt during a press conference at the White House on Wednesday morning, Australian time.

Ms Leavitt was asked whether Australia would be spared from the 25 per cent tariffs - as it had been during Trump's first term - and confirmed the president had 'considered it and considered against it'. 

'There will be no exemptions,' Ms Leavitt added. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese branded the move 'entirely unjustified' and 'disappointing' after he held a supposedly 'highly constructive' call with Trump last month.

'Australia has a close relationship with the United States. Friends need to act in a way that reinforces to our respective populations the fact that we are friends,' he told reporters on Wednesday morning.

'This is not a friendly act but it is imposed on every country.' 

But Mr Albanese revealed he 'mobilised everything at our disposal' to secure a subsequent call with Trump to plead Australia's case but to no avail.

'We have continued to put in a request for another discussion with President Trump,' he said. 

He added: 'Such a decision by the Trump administration is entirely unjustified. This is against the spirit of our two nations' enduring friendship and fundamentally at odds with the benefits that our economic partnership has delivered for more than 70 years.' 

He said Labor would 'continue to put forward a very strong case for exemption'.

'We will advocate for Australian trade at every level and through every channel. We will continue to work for a different outcome and discussions with the Trump administration are ongoing,' he said. 

Mr Albanese said that steel and aluminium exports represented just '0.2 per cent of all Australian exports'.

'Neither is in the top ten per cent of what Australia sells to the United States,' he said. 

The prime minister described tariffs and escalating trade tensions as a 'form of economic self-harm and a recipe for slower growth and higher inflation'. 

'They are paid for by the consumers. This is why Australia will not be imposing reciprocal tariffs on the United States,' he added.    

Mr Albanese said he would not be flying to Washington DC to rectify the situation and insisted that Kevin Rudd was a 'very effective ambassador'. 

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton described the tariffs as a 'bad day for Australia'. 

'It's obvious that Anthony Albanese and Kevin Rudd have had a shocker,' he told reporters on Wednesday afternoon. 

'The Prime Minister  can't secure a phone call, let alone a meeting with the President of the United States. how on earth can an outcome be negotiated if the President won't even take the Prime Minister's call?

'It's not just Australians who see the Prime Minister as weak and incompetent, it's out trading partners as well.' 

White House press secretary Ms Leavitt said the United States was prioritising 'American-first steel' and that Australian-owned companies could 'consider moving steel manufacturing' to the US to escape the tariffs.

The tariffs will make Australian steel and aluminium much more expensive to US buyers and therefore flatten demand, and will be imposed from 3pm on Wednesday (AEDT) only months out from an election.

There are also fears countries hit by similar tariffs could be forced to export low-cost or heavily subsidised steel and aluminium to Australia - undercutting local manufacturers, including the troubled Whyalla steelworks now in administration and Newcastle's Tomago Aluminium.

Earlier this week, Shadow Finance Minister Jane Hume accused Mr Albanese and Trade Minister Don Farrell of failing to do enough to secure an exemption.

'Has the Prime Minister been to the States? No. Has the Trade Minister been over there? He said he was going over this week and failed to do so,' Senator Hume said. 

'I'm urging the Prime Minister to pick up the phone... we are entirely dependent on a strong US economy and our concern is that our aluminium and steel manufacturing sectors here will suffer.' 

Mr Albanese had a phone call with Trump in February, where the US President said he would 'consider' an exemption, raising misplaced hopes in Australia.