Trump adviser suggests allowing US beef imports won't win Australia a tariff exemption
In short:
US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been asked whether Australia could win a tariff exemption by allowing the resumption of American beef imports, but he indicated that was unlikely.
The US considers restrictions on fresh beef imports from America, which have been in place since a mad cow disease outbreak in 2003, to be an unfair non-tariff trade barrier.
What's next?
Both major Australian parties have put forward ideas to respond to American tariffs, but neither says they would implement retaliatory tariffs as other nations plan to do.
Donald Trump's commerce secretary has indicated Australia should not expect an exemption from tariffs even if it relaxes its restrictions on imports of American beef.
The US president singled out Australia's barriers on beef imports when he unveiled his "liberation day" tariffs plan, which has sent American markets plummeting and provoked panicked trade partners to plot retaliation.
Australian exports will be hit with a 10 per cent tariff from Saturday, the lowest rate applied to any country.
Dozens of countries face higher "reciprocal" tariffs, but Australia's longstanding trade deficit with the US means it has avoided a rate beyond the minimum.
In an interview with business channel CNBC, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick was asked: "If they [Australia] were to start taking American beef imports, would that be something that would get them an exemption, and how quickly do you think that could happen?"
Mr Lutnick responded: "I don't think the word 'exemption' is going to be a factor. I don't think that's such a thing. I think what there's going to be is a world of fairness."
Australia blocked the importation of fresh US beef in 2003 because of fears over BSE, commonly known as mad cow disease.
The World Organisation on Animal Health now rates the BSE risk in the US as "negligible". The American beef lobby has been pushing for access to the Australian market, which it says it remains unfairly locked out of.
"Australia bans — and they're wonderful people, and wonderful everything — but they ban American beef," Mr Trump said during his speech on tariffs on Wednesday, local time.
"And, you know, I don't blame them, but we're doing the same thing right now, starting at midnight tonight, I would say."
The comment initially sparked fears that the US, which is Australia's largest red meat export market, was banning Australian beef. But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese later said American officials had confirmed that was not the case.
In a separate interview on Thursday, Mr Lutnick said biosecurity measures that stopped American agricultural exports were "nonsense".
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been advising Donald Trump on tariffs. (AP: Mark Schiefelbein)
"One-point-four billion people in India and we can't sell them corn, Europe won't let us sell beef, Australia won't let us sell beef," he told CNN.
"They want to say, what, 'the seeds are different', right? Other people in the world are using seeds that insects — come on, this is nonsense, this is all nonsense. What happens is they block our markets."
Both Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton have said they were opposed to weakening biosecurity regulations to appease the Americans.
Mr Albanese has outlined a five-point plan to respond to the tariffs, while Mr Dutton has indicated a Coalition government would try to leverage the US-Australia military alliance to strike a deal.
Democratic congressman Joe Courtney, a co-chair of the Friends of Australia Caucus, said the tariffs on Australia "defy any logic". He too pointed to the military alliance, and praised Australia for its "herculean effort to strengthen its military posture in the Indo-Pacific and deliver on the AUKUS mission".
"Imposing a tariff equal to Iran is a slap in the face to a great ally and an embarrassment to Americans who value our two countries' shared commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific," he said.