Australia raises the ban on American beef but denies the decision was made to appease Trump | Australian Foreign Policy

The work decision to raise restrictions on American beef imports is not linked to climbing the tariff war of Donald Trump, said the Minister of Agriculture, despite his arrival while the federal government requires new taxes on pharmaceuticals and steel and aluminum.

The government confirmed Thursday morning that the Ministry of Agriculture would allow imports to Australia, saying that the United States is now managing “effectively” the risk of biosecurity in beef production.

A ban on the beef of the cows raised and massacred in the United States was lifted in 2019, but the restrictions remained on the beef of high cattle in Canada and Mexico but shot in the United States.

The modifications to make the protections more robust introduced at the end of 2024 and at the beginning of 2025 made it possible to trace the meat of these countries through supply chains at their source farm.

The concession should help open the way to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to assert the case to Donald Trump that Australia should receive exemptions from the 50% of the United States on steel and aluminum, and an imminent 200% tariff for pharmaceutical products.

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The American president specifically cited Australian restrictions on beef imports when he announced his “Liberation Day” tariff regime. Australia faces a 10% reference rate on all products exported to the United States.

During the federal electoral campaign, Albanese declared that Australia would not change or compromise the rules of biosecurity, “complete judgment, an exclamation mark”. Despite the comments, a concession on the beef was expected from Australia.

The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestiers, Julie Collins, said that the government wanted a fair and open trade, which benefited the cattle industry considerably.

“The review of American beef imports has undergone a rigorous assessment based on science and risks in the past decade,” she said.

“The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forests is satisfied with the reinforced control measures implemented by the United States to effectively manage the risk of biosecurity.

When asked if this decision would help commercial negotiations with Trump’s White House, Collins said:

“This will be determined, but this decision is based on science and is the culmination of a period of five years.”

The chief of the nationals, David Littleproud, said that he was “suspicious” of the speed of the decision, months after Trump’s comments.

“I want to see science and it should be based on science,” he told ABC Radio.

“I am wary of the speed at which it was done. It seems that it was exchanged to appease Donald Trump, and that’s what we don’t want.”

But the Minister of Trade, Don Farrell, said that there was “nothing suspicious” about timing.

“If we want to export our beef abroad, then we must accept that other countries will want to import their beef into Australia. The work of the federal government is to make absolutely a certain risk of biosecurity accordingly, we have done so. ”

The new arrangements should be set up from July 28, with Australian importers capable of requesting permits to manage fresh beef products in the United States, the largest Australian beef buyer, in front of China, on a $ 14 billion market.

Will Evans, managing director of Cattle Australia, told ABC RN on Thursday morning that there would be “many people today who felt blind by this”, but it was important to recognize that the decision was supported by science and that commercial terms were still in favor of Australia.

“There will be many people today who will feel really frustrated and threatened by this. What we have to do is talk to them about these technical steps that have been taken are the assessments that have been made, and that is why the decision was made,” said Evans.

Australia was a “world defender of the rules of the science trade”, but it was regrettable that in this circumstance, the government had to “open a door that we, as a producer, would probably not want to open,” said Evans. “But we must recognize that science has been used to make this decision.”

“This is an important and very precious market for Australian cattle producers,” said Evans.

“Australia exports more than $ 4 billion of beef per year in the United States. It is one of our most important and most important partners. In the past six months, we have broken records in terms of volume that we put on the market, since the American herd is currently at low records. ”

The president of the National Federation of Farmers, David Jochinke, said that American demand for market access should be processed separately from tariff negotiations.

“The Australian government has assured the industry that they have undertaken the norm examination process and based on science to protect the biosecurity of Australia.

“Free and fair trade is based on the reciprocal recognition of the standards and confidence processes between business partners,” he said.