Donald Trump has taken yet another swipe at ‘s refusal to accept US beef imports, as he sticks to his contentious plan to apply widespread tariffs.
Trump last week slapped a ten per cent tariff on n goods being exported to the US, including beef, as part of his ‘Liberation Day’ trade policy to apply reciprocal tariffs on nations that put up barriers to US products.
On Monday, US time, Trump used his social media platform to defend his policy against complaints from many countries, and while sharemarkets worldwide saw a sell-off of companies whose profits will decline as a result.
Trump re-posted a comment from Senator for Wyoming John Barrasso which claimed the US has not sold ‘one hamburger in ‘.
bans imports of American beef, ostensibly on biosecurity grounds as the final products can not be fully traced back to the source of cattle, some of which come from neighbouring countries.
Senator Barrasso appeared on FoxNews and said the many cattle producers in his state regarded it as unfair that they can not sell their goods in the US but can send its beef to America.
‘I appreciate what the President is doing on tariffs…’ has sold $29 billion worth of beef in the United States, and we haven’t been able to sell one hamburger in because of barriers,’ Senator Barrasso said.
‘You look at these numbers, and the ranchers of Wyoming are saying thank you Mr. President, it is about time!’
Trump has previously made disparaging comments about the misalignment between the two countries’ policy on beef imports.
‘ bans — and they’re wonderful people, and they have wonderful everything — but they ban American beef,’ Trump said as he announced his new tariff regime last week.
‘Yet we imported (US)$3billion of n 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, starting at midnight tonight.’
Following Trump’s speech, there were concerns the US would ban n beef entirely, but instead a ten per cent tariff was applied to the meat, as it was to all n goods.
does not sell anywhere near the $29billion of beef to the US as Senator Barrasso suggested.
According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, sells about to $2billion -which is much closer to Trump’s estimate in his ‘Liberation Day’ address.
The Department of Agriculture added does not have an outright ban on beef from the US.
However, it does prevent the import of beef that cannot be traced from source animal right through to finished product, and the US can not comply as some of its export product is brough in from neighbouring countries..
Effectively this biosecurity measure works as a ban, as has not accepted any US beef imports for 20 years.
While the news of the tariff was disappointing, industry figures said American consumers would be harder hit than n beef farmers.
Grass-fed beef made up 96 per cent of ‘s beef exports to the US in 2024.
The US needs ‘s lean, grass-fed beef to make hamburgers, because drought in America has resulted in the culling of herds and a shortage of product.
Some fast food companies in America use Aussie beef to supplement fattier US beef to help lower the fat content in their burgers.
The demand is not going to stop and imports will continue but it is American consumers who will face higher prices as a result of the tariffs until such time the US industry can rebuild capacity to be self-reliant.