Latest news with #AgricultureMinister
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Australia to reduce US beef import restrictions denounced by Trump as a ban
Australia will reduce restrictions on U.S. beef imports after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized what he described as an Australian ban on the meat, Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said.
The Independent
6 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Australia to reduce US beef import restrictions denounced by Trump as a ban
Australia will reduce restrictions on U.S. beef imports after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized what he described as an Australian ban on the meat, Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said. Collins said Thursday that relaxing the restrictions designed to keep Australia free of mad cow disease, also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE, among its cattle herds would not compromise biosecurity. 'Australia stands for open and free trade — our cattle industry has significantly benefited from this,' Collins said in a statement. Australia has allowed imports of beef grown in the United States since 2019. But Australia has not allowed imports from the U.S. of beef sourced from Canada or Mexico because of the disease risk. But the U.S. has recently introduced additional movement controls that identify and trace all cattle from Mexico and Canada to their farms of origin. US cattle import controls satisfy Australian authorities Australian authorities were 'satisfied the strengthened control measures put in place by the U.S. effectively manage biosecurity risks,' Collins said. The timing of the new, reduced restrictions has not been finalized. Trump attacked Australian import restrictions on U.S. beef when he announced in April that tariffs of at least 10% would be placed on Australian imports, with steel and aluminum facing a 50% tariff. 'Australia bans — and they're wonderful people, and wonderful everything — but they ban American beef,' Trump told reporters then. 'Yet we imported $3 billion of Australian beef from them just last year alone. They won't take any of our beef. They don't want it because they don't want it to affect their farmers and, you know, I don't blame them, but we're doing the same thing right now,' Trump added. Lawmaker fears appeasing Trump endangers Australian cattle industry Opposition lawmaker David Littleproud suspected the government was endangering Australia's cattle industry to appease Trump. 'I want to see the science and it should be predicated on science. I'm suspicious of the speed at which this has been done,' Littleproud told reporters. 'We need to give confidence to the industry, but also to you (the public): this is not just about animal welfare, this is about human welfare, this is about BSE potentially coming into this country and having a human impact, so I think it's important the government's very transparent about the science and I don't think it's even beyond the question to have an independent panel review that science to give confidence to everybody,' he added. Around 70% of Australian beef is exported. Producers fear that export market would vanish overnight if diseases including mad cow or foot-and-mouth disease infected Australian cattle. Will Evans, chief executive of Cattle Australia who represents more than 52,000 grass-fed beef producers across the nation, said he was confident the agriculture department had taken a cautious approach toward U.S. imports. 'The department's undertaken a technical scientific assessment and we have to put faith in them. They've made this assessment themselves. They've said: 'We've looked at this, we've looked at the best science, this is a decision that we feel comfortable with,'' Evans told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. 'When you have a 75 billion (Australian dollar, $50 billion) industry relying on them not making this mistake, I'm sure they've been very cautious in their decision-making,' he added. US beef prices rise because of drought and a domestic cattle shortage Beef prices have been rising in the U.S. due to factors that include drought and shrinking domestic herd numbers. The average price of a pound of ground beef in the U.S. rose to $6.12 in June, up nearly 12% from a year ago, according to U.S. government data. The average price of all uncooked beef steaks rose 8% to $11.49 per pound. Australia's opposition to any U.S. tariffs will be high on the agenda when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese secures his first face-to-face meeting with Trump. Albanese and Trump were to hold a one-on-one meeting on the sidelines of a Group of Seven summit in Canada last month, but the U.S. president left early. Albanese expects the pair will meet this year, although no date has been announced. The two countries have had a bilateral free trade deal for 20 years and the U.S. has maintained a trade surplus with Australia for decades.
Washington Post
6 days ago
- Health
- Washington Post
Australia to reduce US beef import restrictions denounced by Trump as a ban
MELBOURNE, Australia — Australia will reduce restrictions on U.S. beef imports after U.S. President Donald Trump criticized what he described as an Australian ban on the meat, Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said. Collins said Thursday that relaxing the restrictions designed to keep Australia free of mad cow disease , also known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy or BSE, among its cattle herds would not compromise biosecurity.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Australia Plans to Lift Import Curbs on US Beef to Pacify Trump
(Bloomberg) -- The Australian government has announced it intends to remove restrictions on US beef imports in a bid to appease President Donald Trump, who had highlighted Canberra's biosecurity measures as an unfair impediment to trade. Trump Awards $1.26 Billion Contract to Build Biggest Immigrant Detention Center in US Why the Federal Reserve's Building Renovation Costs $2.5 Billion The High Costs of Trump's 'Big Beautiful' New Car Loan Deduction Salt Lake City Turns Winter Olympic Bid Into Statewide Bond Boom Milan Corruption Probe Casts Shadow Over Property Boom Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said the government will lift restrictions from next week on the import of red meat that originated in either Canada or Mexico and later slaughtered in the US. Australia barred US beef imports in 2003 following an outbreak of mad cow disease, and only eased some restrictions in 2019. Collins said in a statement on Thursday that there had been 'a rigorous science and risk-based assessment over the past decade' and the government now considered that 'the strengthened control measures put in place by the US effectively manage biosecurity risks.' Trump singled out Australia's refusal to take exports of US beef in April when he unveiled his 'reciprocal' tariffs. 'They're wonderful people and wonderful everything, but they ban American beef. Yet we imported $3 billion of Australian beef from them just last year alone,' Trump said in his 'Liberation Day' address on April 2. The US is one of Australia's largest markets for red meat, with beef shipments rising by 23% in June from a year earlier despite the current 10% tariff on all Australian exports to the US. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had previously said he wouldn't weaken Australia's biosecurity regime simply to satisfy Trump's demands. Elon Musk's Empire Is Creaking Under the Strain of Elon Musk Burning Man Is Burning Through Cash A Rebel Army Is Building a Rare-Earth Empire on China's Border What the Tough Job Market for New College Grads Says About the Economy It's Not Just Tokyo and Kyoto: Tourists Descend on Rural Japan ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg
6 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Australia Plans to Lift Import Curbs on US Beef to Pacify Trump
The Australian government has announced it intends to remove restrictions on US beef imports in a bid to appease President Donald Trump, who had highlighted Canberra's biosecurity measures as an unfair impediment to trade. Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said the government will lift restrictions from next week on the import of red meat that originated in either Canada or Mexico and later slaughtered in the US. Australia barred US beef imports in 2003 following an outbreak of mad cow disease, and only eased some restrictions in 2019.
