Peter Dutton says he would seek a meeting with Donald Trump in the early days of a Coalition government, blaming Labor’s previous criticisms of the US president and its failure to anticipate his election victory for leaving Australia helpless in the trade wars.

In a keynote foreign policy address to the Lowy Institute on Thursday, the opposition leader stressed his disapproval of the “unjustified” decision by Trump to hit Australia and other allies with tariffs, but argued he was better suited to deal with the president than Anthony Albanese.