Australia welcomes Trump’s removal of tariffs on beef and other food imports | Tariffs

The Australian government has welcomed the Trump administration’s removal of tariffs on beef and other agricultural exports to the United States.

US President Donald Trump, who has previously insisted that import duties do not increase inflation, signed an executive order on Saturday morning Australian time reversing tariffs on food imports including beef, coffee and bananas.

Facing pressure from rising consumer prices, Trump acknowledged that “existing domestic demand for certain products and existing domestic capacity to produce certain products” were influential in the decision.

Last year, meat was Australia’s second largest export to the US, behind non-monetary gold. Since Trump’s tariff regime came into force in April, Australian producers have been charged a 10% export duty on most products, including beef.

Welcoming the removal of tariffs, Cattle Australia chief executive Will Evans said Australia exported approximately $4 billion worth of beef to the US each year.

Commerce Secretary Don Farrell said the government has argued that the tariffs are “an act of economic self-destruction” that ultimately affects American consumers, who pay the tariffs through higher retail prices.

_{Sign up: AÜ Breaking News email}

“We welcome the removal of tariffs on Australia’s premium agricultural exports, including beef,” he said.

“We maintain our position that tariffs on Australian products are unfair and continue to advocate for their removal.”

Angus Gidley-Baird, a senior analyst at Rabobank, said the tariffs gave Australian producers an advantage over countries that export significant amounts of beef to the US but are subject to much higher tariffs, such as Brazil.

However, Gidley-Baird said Australian beef producers would not see much of a change in demand, at least in the short term, because the US market was “very strong and their domestic production was very slow” after drought conditions in 2022 and 2023.

“The bigger question for us is whether the tariffs are long-term. [are reintroduced] “The USA is also rebuilding its herd and production,” he said.

Richard Holden, professor of economics at the University of New South Wales business school, said people were not wrong to observe that if other countries faced higher tariffs it “might be relatively better” for Australia.

“But we’ve seen the Trump administration’s tariffs really shrink the overall global trading system that serves all countries so well, especially Australia,” he said.

“So anything that steps back to where we are in terms of free trade is really good for everyone, including Australia.”

In 2024, the United States became the fifth largest destination for Australian goods with $23.8 billion in exports and the second largest trading partner in imports with $50.5 billion in products purchased.

Jenny Gordon, honorary professor at ANU and former chief economist at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, said the tariffs did not have a major direct impact on the local economy because Australia runs a trade deficit with the US.

““What concerns us more is the indirect impact on our economy,” he said. “We are grateful for everything that is happening in the right direction.”

Gordon pointed out that the Democratic party’s recent victories in state and local elections are evidence that US voters are “taking notice.” [Trump’s] “Tariff policy does not reduce the cost of living.”

John Quiggin, professor of economics at the University of Queensland, said the Australian beef industry had probably benefited from the tariffs on balance because they were lower than those imposed on other major exporters.

“But it is better as public policy not to have an administration that uses tariffs more or less randomly,” he said.