Access for US beef is on the tariff negotiation | Australian Markets

Australia is contemplating permitting US beef imports because it seeks to strike a tariff deal with Donald Trump, supplied it doesn’t compromise national biosecurity protocols.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is getting ready for a potential assembly with the US president shortly after he granted the UK an exemption to his supercharged tariffs.

The UK deal affords hope to Australia, if the authorities performs its playing cards accurately, because it considers permitting US beef producers entry to the native market.

But Mr Albanese says any tariff deal gained’t be at the expense of Australia’s biosecurity.

“We will not change or compromise any of the issues regarding biosecurity … it’s simply not worth it,” he informed ABC radio on Friday.

“If things can be sorted out in a way that protects our biosecurity, of course, we don’t just say ‘no, we don’t want imports here for the sake of it’.

“But our first priority is biosecurity.”

Both leaders are anticipated to fulfill on the sidelines of the G7 convention or in the US during a June journey to North America.

The US has long taken subject with the lack of entry to Australia’s home beef market.

Australia beforehand positioned restrictions on recent US beef imports in 2003 after mad cow illness, however the ban was lifted in 2019 and beef raised and slaughtered in the US can already be exported to Australia.

Mr Trump’s administration is now demanding that Australia settle for imports of beef raised in Canada or Mexico then slaughtered and processed in the US.

However, some have raised worries about deficiencies in Mexico’s livestock monitoring system, which might inadvertently import beef from components of the continent the place illness outbreaks are a concern.

Biosecurity officers are reviewing the consideration.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley beforehand mentioned the coalition was able to work with Labor to make sure Australia might additionally secure a tariff carve out.

Mr Albanese has already had three conversations with Mr Trump however mentioned he was trying ahead to assembly him in-person, calling him an “interesting character”.

While he acknowledged the mutual respect between each nations, Mr Albanese re-asserted Australia’s independence.

“The United States is an important ally for Australia,” he mentioned.

“We don’t have a subservient relationship to any nation. We’re a sovereign nation that stands on our own two feet.”

Though US beef is up for dialogue, Health Minister Mark Butler expressly ruled out bargaining with Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

Government officers have repeatedly mentioned they’re in search of a full exemption from all tariffs after Mr Trump imposed a 50 per cent metal and aluminium tariff on all trading companions besides the UK, on prime of his baseline 10 per cent “Liberation Day” levies.