Australia to lift biosecurity restrictions of beef imports from United States

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Australia will lift biosecurity restrictions on beef imports from the United States, in a move that could be used in tariff negotiations with the Trump administration. Since 2019, US producers have been allowed to export beef to Australia but only for cattle born, raised and slaughtered in the US. The federal government will now permit the importation of cattle born in Mexico and Canada that end up in the American system.

Transcript

00:00The government says the evidence now points to it being able to lift this restriction

00:06on beef imports from the United States.

00:09To be clear, beef imports from the United States have been permitted since 2019, but

00:14beef had to be raised in the United States before it was slaughtered and then exported,

00:18and there simply hasn't been very much coming this way.

00:21The US has been pushing for those restrictions to be eased further, to allow beef raised

00:26in Canada or Mexico and then slaughtered in the United States to then be exported over

00:32here, arguing the markets are too heavily intertwined for anything else to really be practical.

00:38The government says it's been reviewing this for some time, for a decade or so, and has

00:43now come to a position where it is safe to allow these exports to begin.

00:49The reason that this is so significant is because of the broader trade context with the United

00:54States, when the US placed tariffs, a 10 per cent baseline tariff on all Australian exports

01:01to the US earlier this year, the President himself, Donald Trump, pointed to beef restrictions

01:06on Australian imports as a significant barrier in the trade relationship.

01:11So even though this isn't a significant market, beef imports from the US have never been a significant

01:17market in the Australian trade relationship.

01:20This is clearly an issue on the US side of things.

01:23That being said, the government says there is distance between these issues, that biosecurity

01:28and trade are not the same issue.

01:30These two things are not directly related.

01:32They say this is simply a matter of timing and the science coming around.

01:36Here's the Agriculture Minister Julie Collins speaking on this earlier.

01:40This has been the culmination of what has been a 10 year process.

01:44The US has been able to bring beef into Australia since 2019.

01:48In 2020 they asked for the expanded access.

01:51This process now is at conclusion and has taken around five years to conclude.

01:55The decision has been purely based on science and a rigorous assessment by my department.

02:00Our biosecurity risk assessment process is very robust and I have faith in the officials

02:06in my department to do this appropriately.

02:09These are experts in the field.

02:10Australia's biosecurity system is world renowned for a reason and this assessment has now been

02:15completed.

02:17The question is now, does this open the door to reconsideration of the US tariffs currently

02:23placed on Australia?

02:24There is that 10% broad tariff that I mentioned before.

02:27There are also much more significant tariffs on some Australian sectors, particularly steel

02:32and aluminium, up to 50%.

02:35The coalition for its part is deeply sceptical of the timing here.

02:40It says if the science stacks up, if it is safe for Australia to allow US beef to be imported

02:46into Australia, if those biosecurity concerns are no longer present, there is no risk to Australian

02:52industry, well that would be okay.

02:54The National's leader, David Littleproud, says he would like to see an independent review

02:58of the science, just to be sure.

03:00Here's a bit of what he had to say.

03:01Well, I want to see the science and it should be predicated on science.

03:06I'm suspicious by the speed in which this has been done, but we need to give confidence

03:11to the industry, but also to you.

03:13This is not just about animal welfare, this is about human welfare, this is about BSE potentially

03:18coming into this country and having a human impact.

03:21So I think it's important that the government is very transparent about the science and

03:25I don't think it's even beyond the question to have an independent panel review that science

03:31to give confidence to everybody.

03:34So plenty of political reaction, Tom.

03:37What about industry reaction?

03:38Look, the industry has been generally somewhat welcoming of this decision.

03:43It has been extremely cautious in the past, it's always wary of the risk that BSE, also

03:49commonly referred to as mad cow disease, would present to the Australian beef sector.

03:54It points out that beef is an enormously valuable export for Australia to markets like the USA,

04:01that we do export a significant amount of beef to the United States.

04:05We also export a very significant amount of beef to China as well.

04:09This is an industry worth billions of dollars.

04:11But it says it has to put its faith in the science.

04:15Here's Cattle Australia speaking on this earlier.

04:18The department's undertaken a technical scientific assessment and we have to put faith in them.

04:24They've made this assessment themselves.

04:25They've said, look, we've looked at this, we've looked at the best science.

04:29This is a decision that we feel comfortable with.

04:30And again, when you have a $75 billion industry relying on them not making this mistake,

04:35I'm sure they've been very cautious in their decision-making.

04:39Lorna, the key question now is where does this go from a trade perspective?

04:43Do Australian trade officials make new approaches to the United States to try and renegotiate

04:49those tariffs?

04:50The government says work has been underway, of course, on that for some months now.

04:53But this may perhaps, of course, provide a new avenue in those talks.

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