Australia welcomes Trump's removal of beef tariffs, seeks more relief

SYDNEY: Australia on Sunday (Nov 16) cautiously welcomed US President Donald Trump's rollback of his tariffs on beef, while pressing the US to eliminate all tariffs on Australian goods.

Trump on Friday removed tariffs he had imposed on more than 200 food products, including beef, amid consumer concerns about rising US grocery prices. Australia in 2024 became the biggest shipper of red meat to the US, offering lower prices and lean cuts that the US lacks.

"We welcome the lifting of these tariffs. That's a good thing for Australian beef producers," Foreign Minister Penny Wong told Australian Broadcasting Corp television.

But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said his Labor government would continue "to advocate for genuine reciprocal tariffs, which would be zero".

Among the various tariffs Trump has imposed on goods shipped into the US, he calls some of them "reciprocal", based on the size of the US goods-trade deficit with a given country.

"We believe very firmly, and will continue to advocate for us to have zero tariffs," Albanese said in televised remarks from Melbourne.

Wong would not say whether Albanese's centre-left government, which has previously lobbied for a reprieve, now expected Trump to wind back his 50 per cent tariffs on Australian steel and aluminium imports.

"We'll keep advocating our position," she said.

Trump in April singled out a beef trade disparity with Australia, which exports more than A$4 billion (US$2.61 billion) worth of beef to the US annually. Months after Trump's comments, Australia said it would ease restrictions on beef imports from the US, in place since 2003 due to concerns about bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.

Australia has shipped between 150,000 tons and 400,000 tons of the product every year since 1990 to the US, where it is popular with fast-food chains.