Tiffanie Turnbull
BBC News, Sydney
Getty Images
Australia has some of the strictest biosecurity rules in the world
Australia will lift restrictions on the import of beef from the US, a trade barrier which had angered the Trump administration.
American beef has effectively been banned from the country – which has some of the strictest biosecurity laws in the world – since 2003 after an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease.
The White House cited the restrictions when explaining tariffs imposed on Australia in April, as part of US President Donald Trump’s so-called Liberation Day scheme.
The Australian government has denied the timing of the decision was related to the trade tiff, saying a decade-long department review found the US had improved beef safety measures.
Canberra technically lifted the ban on US beef in 2019, but cattle from Mexico and Canada remained on the blacklist, and the integration of their supply chains meant this essentially barred beef from the States too.
However, the US has recently introduced better cattle tracing protocols, allowing authorities to track where they were raised and respond more effectively in the event of a disease outbreak.
Australia’s Agriculture Minister Julie Collins said the department had undertaken a “rigorous science and risk-based assessment” and was now “satisfied” that the US is managing any biosecurity threats.
“This decision has been purely based on science,” she said in a statement.
“The Albanese Labor government will never compromise on biosecurity.”
But the opposition has suggested the government may have done just that.
“It looks as though [the ban has] been traded away to appease Donald Trump, and that’s what we don’t want,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
“I want to see the science.”
Cattle Australia chief executive Will Evans, however, told the ABC he was “comfortable” with the decision and that the industry had to “put faith” in the department.
He added that US was an important trading partner with whom Australia needed to maintain a good relationship.
The US is Australia’s biggest beef export market, worth A$14bn (£6.8bn, $9.2bn) last year.
Trump singled out the industry when imposing what he called “reciprocal” tariffs of at least 10% on all Australian exports.
However, a report by Meat and Livestock Australia released in June found the beef tariff had not hurt trade, which had risen by about a third so far this year.