Australia steps up US trade beef as Trump claims win

Mr Trump and his trade representative Jamieson Greer have put Australia ditching biosecurity blocks on imported beef down to pressure from the White House.

The president has been pushing for concessions from a raft of countries after unveiling sweeping tariffs on imports, including a baseline 10 per cent rate for Australian goods.

But Trade Minister Don Farrell denied any quid pro quo, saying the removal of beef restrictions came at the end of a decade-long, independent review process and biosecurity hadn't been sacrificed.

Senator Farrell used a major trade policy speech to deliver some of the strongest language yet to criticise the president's upheaval of international trade with his tariffs.

"The rules of the road are being challenged - one of the chief designers of the global trading system, the United States, is now questioning the benefits of open, rules-based trade," he told the Lowy Institute on Friday.

"What we risk seeing is a shift from a system based on shared prosperity and interdependence to one based solely on power and size."

Slowed growth from major trading partners and the ripple effect it would have on the global economy "will be felt for generations", the trade minister warned.

"We cannot risk a return to the law of the jungle," he said.

Senator Farrell said he remained optimistic the US would eventually drop the levies as they pushed up inflation and unemployment.

Demand for Australian imports had remained steady, he said, pointing to steel as an example despite the product being subject to a 25 per cent levy.

"What President Trump is saying to us and the rest of the world is we want to buy less of your products," he said.

"Now, strangely enough, that actually hasn't happened so far with most Australian products."

But the trade minister also issued a veiled warning to Washington, saying if they continued to keep trade barriers then Australian businesses would simply turn elsewhere.

The nation could increase its exports to markets like Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Singapore, Senator Farrell said.

"Singapore loves doing business with us, so there are so many opportunities in our region that if America says, 'OK, well we're going to take less of your product', we can find other markets much closer to home."

Health Minister Mark Butler said the dropped beef restrictions came after the US increased its traceability standards.

A blanket ban on US beef imports was introduced after a 2003 mad cow disease outbreak.

It was lifted in 2019, but there were restrictions on products derived from Canada- or Mexico-raised cattle.

Only small quantities have been imported to Australia since the wholesale ban was lifted.

Craig Huf, a cattle producer from Upper Barringbar on the NSW north coast, said large volumes of imported beef were not expected to reach the Australian market because of record-low US herd numbers.

Australian Farm Institute executive director Katie McRobert agreed, saying it was unlikely there would be a rush to import American beef as "we already produce far more beef in Australia than we can possibly eat".

But the association backed industry calls for an independent review of the government's decision to reassure producers about biosecurity risks.

Experts have warned that Australia's move to lift restrictions on US beef might not be enough to shift the dial on tariff negotiations.

The Philippines and Japan recently struck agreements with the US to lower their tariff rates, but both nations' goods are still taxed above the 10 per cent baseline.

Australian Associated Press