Australia has eased restrictions on US beef imports. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
United States President Donald Trump has hailed the Australian Government’s decision to lift biosecurity bans on American beef imports as a trade win for the US, but Labor maintains the move has nothing to do with tariffs.
The Federal Government has removed biosecurity import restrictions on American beef despite insisting biosecurity was non-negotiable even in the face of US tariffs imposed on Australian exports.
On Thursday (24 July), the government confirmed it would now allow imports into Australia of meat processed in the US but grown in Mexico and Canada.
Before that decision, only US-produced beef was allowed into Australia due to biosecurity concerns over the supply chain.
The government says it has not compromised on biosecurity and that the decision was not swayed by the Trump tariffs.
But the Trump Administration is taking the credit, with Agriculture Secretary Brooke L Rollins congratulating the President for the breakthrough.
“American farmers and ranchers produce the safest, healthiest beef in the world,” Rollins said in a statement.
“It’s absurd that non-scientific trade barriers prevented our beef from being sold to consumers in Australia for the last 20 years.
“Gone are the days of putting American farmers on the sidelines.
“This is yet another example of the kind of market access the President negotiates to bring America into a new golden age of prosperity, with American agriculture leading the way.”
US trade representative Jamieson Greer has also directly connected the decision to the US-Australia trade relationship.
By Friday, President Trump himself was taking credit for the Australian backdown and boasting victory in a social media post.
In his usual style of randomly capping words and letters, the President wrote:
“After many years Australia has agreed to accept American Beef!
“For a long time, and even though we are great friends, they actually banned our Beef.
“Now, we are going to sell so much to Australia because this is undeniable and irrefutable Proof that U.S. Beef is the Safest and best in the entire World.
“The other Countries that refuse our magnificent Beef are ON NOTICE. All of our Nation’s Ranchers, who are some of the hardest working and most wonderful people, are smiling today, which means I am smiling too.
“Let’s keep the Hot Streak going. IT’S THE GOLDEN AGE OF AMERICA!”
Agriculture Minister Julie Collins has repeatedly stated the decision to ease restrictions on US beef is based on science and follows a decade-long review and a recent “rigorous assessment” by her department.
Health Minister Mark Butler backed that up on Friday, saying the move was not a trade decision.
“The American systems were assessed by our independent officials over the last several months and found to be up to scratch,” Mr Butler said.
“Up to the sort of arrangements that we have with our strict biosecurity laws.”
But Nationals leader David Littleproud smells a rat and says the US Trump Administration’s comments validate his concern that a deal was done before Australia’s biosecurity protocols were finalised.
“We need to know if Labor is sacrificing our high biosecurity standards just so Prime Minister Anthony Albanese can obtain a meeting with US President Donald Trump,” Mr Littleproud said.
“The Prime Minister should be using our strong relationship with the US and our AUKUS deal as a solid reason to obtain a much-needed meeting with President Trump.”
Mr Littleproud has called for an independent review into the decision, a call backed by Australia’s beef industry.
“We cannot be using our science-based biosecurity standards as a bargaining chip,” the Nationals leader said.
Meanwhile, Trade Minister Don Farrell has used an address to the Lowy Institute to suggest the US’s tariff wars could spark a long-term global economic downturn.
“Australia is a medium-sized open economy that is highly integrated with the global economy,” he said.
“We rely on being able to send our produce, our resources, our human capital to the world to sustain the high standards of living which we enjoy today.
“What we risk seeing is a shift from a system based on shared prosperity and interdependence to one based solely on power and size.
“We cannot risk a return to the law of the jungle …
“The cost to consumers and businesses of a global economic slowdown will be felt for generations and the shockwaves of inflation will worsen.”
