Beef import ban from US to Australia to be lifted
Australia is set to lift restrictions on importing beef from the USA. The restriction had angered US President Donald Trump’s administration. American beef has essentially been banned from Australia, the country with some of the strictest biosecurity laws on earth, since 2003 following a mad cow disease outbreak.
The restrictions were cited by the White House when discussing tariffs on Australia earlier this year. American authorities said that the “major trade breakthrough” saying that it would “Make Agriculture Great Again.”
Australia’s government denied that the timing of the move was related to the trade tariff. A decade-long review, it claimed, found that America has improved safety measures for its beef. The ban had technically been lifted in 2019 but Mexican and Canadian cattle are still blacklisted. The integration of the supply chains has meant that American cattle had been barred as well.
The USA has recently brought better cattle tracing protocols that allow authorities to track where the animals have been raised, allowing them to respond in the event of any disease outbreak.
US Agriculture Secretary Brook Rollins said in a statement that the restrictions were “absurd,” emphasising the safety of American products. “Gone are the days of putting American farmers on the sideline,” she said.
Her counterpart in Australia, Julie Collins, said her department has undertaken a “rigorous science and risk-based assessment,” adding that it is “satisfied” that biosecurity threats are managed by the US.
“This decision has been purely based on science,” she said in a statement. “The Albanese Labor government will never compromise on biosecurity.”
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