Albanese to put beef on the table in Trump trade talks

The Age

2 days ago

However, the US's mad cow outbreak subsided and Australia's ban on US beef was lifted in 2019. Biosecurity officials are still reviewing whether to permit cattle raised in Mexico and Canada but slaughtered in the US into Australia, as the Trump administration has demanded.
'Our farmers are blocked from selling almost anywhere ... Australia won't let us sell beef,' US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in April, in an oversimplification of the current situation.
It is unclear whether the outcome of that review will be the card Albanese plays in his discussion with Trump, which another government source noted was not a 'deal-or-no-deal' moment and could lead to months of talks.
The source added that ministers were wary of Trump's erratic approach and were unwilling to 'sell the farm' by giving in to US demands to water down the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme or back away from charging tech giants for news.
The prime minister's office was contacted for comment.
Experts, including former inspector-general of biosecurity Helen Scott-Orr, told this masthead in April that they endorsed Australia's ban on US beef exports from cattle raised outside the US. Australia's disease-free status depended on strict biosecurity protocols, they said.
'We do not use them [biosecurity protocols] as non-tariff trade barriers. When other countries query our biosecurity requirements, we have to justify them and show that we are applying proper controls to allow trade to all those countries to continue,' Scott-Orr said.
'The requirements we have are very cautious because the consequences would be huge.'
The Albanese government's consideration of permitting US beef imports suggests it has found a pathway through these complications.
In April, Albanese said he would negotiate with the US but would never undermine biosecurity.
'We will not weaken the measures that protect our farmers and producers from the risks of disease or contamination,' he said in a separate statement.
Agriculture sector consultant Patrick Hutchison, of Gibraltar Strategic Advisory, said while the US was a major competitor in the biggest markets for beef, like China, Japan and Korea, Australia's population of 27 million was likely too small to become a major target for Americans.
'US exports would only play a very niche role in the market here, like in food service or potentially, US-aligned supermarket chains,' Hutchinson said.
The US is the biggest market for Australian beef, which is used in 6 billion hamburgers across the United States each year, and industry calculates tariffs would cost US consumers an additional $600 million a year.
National Farmers Federation President David Jochinke said he welcomed Albanese's ongoing commitment not to compromise biosecurity rules to satisfy US demands.
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'The science-based, biosecurity assessment processes undertaken by the Australian government are crucial in ensuring imports are safe,' Jochinke said.
Australia's historic trade with the US dipped into a deficit for the first time earlier this year, just as Trump was preparing to announce tariffs.
However, it returned to surplus on Thursday, handing Albanese and Farrell a more powerful argument because most countries, unlike Australia, sell more to the US than they buy from it.
The US hostility towards trade under Trump has forced its allies to open up new trading avenues. Australia is closing in on a long-delayed free-trade deal with the EU, with Trade Minister Don Farrell meeting European counterparts in Paris this week.
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UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer secured a partial exemption from metals tariffs when he visited Washington, creating a precedent for such an arrangement and fuelling Coalition calls for Albanese to get the same outcome.
The prime minister said on Tuesday he would 'certainly' raise metals tariff with Trump, and on Thursday argued the case for a long-delayed EU trade deal that Farrell is now negotiating was bolstered by the chaos caused by Trump's tariff spree.