Cattle farmers would rather cop Trump’s tariffs than diseases from American beef

Farmers have reacted defiantly as US President Donald Trump singled out Australia’s beef in his trade crackdown, warning that Trump’s 10 per cent tariff would hike prices for fast food consumers and declaring the country’s world-leading biosecurity measures must not be compromised to benefit US exports.

The US is the biggest market for Australian beef, which is used in 6 billion hamburgers across the United States each year, and industry calculates the new tariff would cost US consumers an additional $600 million a year.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Brett Hosking on his property in Quambatook.Credit: Erin Jonasson.

Trump raised the grievances of American farmers during his Liberation Day speech, when he complained about Australia’s ban on imports of uncooked US beef and sparked fears our beef would be banned altogether.

“Australia bans – and they’re wonderful people, and wonderful everything – but they ban American beef,” he said.

It was quickly confirmed that Australian beef could still be imported to the US, despite the fact US beef is barred from Australia due to the risk that it could bring devastating livestock diseases into the country – namely foot and mouth and mad cow diseases.

Former NSW Farmers president James Jackson, a qualified veterinarian and beef and cattle producer in Guyra, NSW, said it would be “catastrophic” if the disease spread in Australia, which would halt livestock sales and force animals to be destroyed.

“A lot of farmers would go broke, as well as a lot of meat processors,” Jackson said. “We wouldn’t agree to trade away [biosecurity] standards to get access to a market.”

The US buys in fresh beef from central and South America, where outbreaks of these diseases have been reported, and Australia’s ban on US beef is primarily to stop infected imports from sparking an outbreak.

The federal government has estimated that a foot-and-mouth outbreak could cost $80 billion.

Biosecurity expert and Monash University professor Melodie McGeoch said US imports of uncooked beef are banned because of the risk of disease or insects entering Australia, which would cause huge disruptions to the local industry.

“In biosecurity, once it’s here, many of these diseases, they’re really expensive to manage and potentially to eradicate them,” said McGeoch.

She said it would be extremely difficult for the US to overturn the ban, which depends on many factors, including which part of the country the beef was produced.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke to farmers shortly after Trump’s announcement and repeated his previous commitment to maintain Australia’s world-leading biosecurity regime.

Previously, on Wednesday, he said any move to weaken standards would be akin to “cutting off your nose to spite your face”.

Albanese speaking at a press conference on Thursday morning in Melbourne about the tariffs. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said the tariffs were “actually going to be bad for consumers in the United States”.

“They require our beef patties for their market,” Dutton said.

Victorian Farmers Federation President Brett Hosking said there was widespread disappointment among the farming community, which has enjoyed a productive relationship with the US under the existing free trade agreement.

“It feels like this has been done to a friend,” Hosking said.

Cattle farmers Joe Portelli from Dunedoo and Garth Shepherd from Wee Waa at the Dubbo saleyards on Thursday.Credit: Belinda Soole

However, he said the tax hike would be felt primarily by consumers in the US, given the American cattle herd is at record lows due to widespread drought.

Global beef demand is soaring, prices are riding high and Hosking said Australia can afford to prioritise its disease protections.

“We could also find other markets that will be at a similar price point to the US so in terms of impact on our farmgate price, it’s barely going to be noticeable.”

“Australia produces some of the cleanest, safest and healthiest food in the world.”

When news of Trump’s tariffs landed on Thursday morning, Elders branch manager at the Dubbo stockyards, Martin Simmons, started fielding an influx of calls from his clients anxious about the “head scratching” decision.

“Only time will tell how this impacts us, but it’s sent a fair bit of uncertainty through the industry,” he said.

“I think [at] the end of the day, the beauty of our industry is it isn’t going anywhere - not only are we feeding Australia but we are feeding the world. While the US is important, it isn’t our only purchaser.”

Simmons said the floods in Queensland and drought conditions in Victoria meant supply has been scarce which has kept cattle prices high, and Thursday’s sales did not appear to be immediately affected by the announcement.

Victorian cattle producer Fiona Conroy said the tariffs were disappointing but unsurprising and argued it “isn’t worth compromising biosecurity standards in response to the tariffs”.

Cattle farmer Fiona Conroy at her farm in St Leonards.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

“It’s great that the government has identified that we need to pursue other markets. There is a growing global demand for red meat, so we just need to make sure we’re positioned well to tap into that,” Conroy said.

Why the US needs Australian beef

The Red Meat Advisory Council, a livestock peak body, calculated that the 10 per cent tariff on Australian beef, which goes into 6 billion US hamburgers each year, would cost US consumers an additional $600 million a year.

Australia’s beef exports to the US were worth $3.3 billion last financial year, and most of the sales were for what is known as lean grinding beef, the type of meat needed to make a desirable hamburger patty. That is because the offcuts from US feedlot-raised cattle used for hamburgers are much too fatty, while Australia’s grass-fed cattle are lean after spending their lives roaming our vast range lands eating grass.

However, despite the forecast price hike for US consumers, experts say local beef prices would be unaffected.

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