At the December 1972 election, Whitlam led the Labor Party into government for the first time in 23 years, and Cairns became Minister for Overseas Trade and Minister for Secondary Industry. He had by now shed much of his socialist ideology of earlier years, though he was still a strong believer in state planning. He got along surprisingly well with the heads of industry, although critics said this was because he was sympathetic to their requests for government assistance. During his time as Minister for Trade and Minister for Secondary Industry, Cairns undertook a number of overseas trade visits. The most successful of his overseas visits was to China which resulted in an increase in Australian trade with China from 200 million dollars before the visit to 1,000 million dollars a year after his visit. After the 1974 election, Cairns was elected Deputy Leader of the Labor Party, defeating Lance Barnard, and thus became Deputy Prime Minister.