Australia has been hit with a 10% tariff on all imports to the US as part of a global tariff regime imposed by the US president, Donald Trump.
In his “liberation day” speech, the president held up a board listing countries and their rates of tariffs. It claimed Australia imposed a 10% tariff on US goods, “including currency manipulation and other trade barriers”.
He said America would impose a broad 10% reciprocal tariff in return.
The US and Australia have a free-trade agreement, signed in 2005. Australian goods go into the US without tariffs and American goods come into Australia without tariffs.
Australia was not singled out for particular tariff treatment: the 10% tariff is a baseline global tariff that will be imposed on all foreign imports from one minute after midnight on Saturday morning, the White House said in a statement.
Trump did, however, in his speech single out Australia’s ban on the import of US beef – imposed in 2003 after the US had cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.
“Australia bans – and they’re wonderful people – but they ban American beef,” Trump said.
“Yet we imported $3bn of Australian beef from them just last year alone. They won’t take any of our beef. They don’t want it because they don’t want it to affect their farmers and, you know, I don’t blame them, but we’re doing the same thing right now, starting at midnight tonight.”
Beef is a significant Australian export to the US – Australian lean beef is added to fatty American meat to make hamburgers. United Nations Comtrade data shows meat products were Australia’s largest export to the US in 2024, worth more than $4.03bn.
Australian leaders respond
Anthony Albanese, said Australia had made “strong representations” to the US in an attempt to dissuade Trump’s administration from imposing tariffs on Australia and it had not been specifically targeted as other nations were.
“No one has got a better deal. That doesn’t mean it’s a good thing [but] it’s very clear that president Trump was determined to go down this road,” the prime minister said.
Albanese called Trump’s new regime illogical and self-harming, but confirmed his government would not respond with reciprocal tariffs.
“President Trump referred to reciprocal tariffs. A reciprocal tariff would be zero, not 10%,” Albanese said.
“The administration’s tariffs have no basis in logic and they go against the basis of our two nations’ partnership. This is not the act of a friend.”
Albanese said the US announcement would add to uncertainty in the global economy.
“It will push up costs for American households,” he said. “This is why our government will not be seeking to impose reciprocal tariffs. We will not join a race to the bottom that leads to higher prices and slower growth. We will stand up for Australia.”
The prime minister said Australia would not weaken its biosecurity regime in response to tariffs or a potential ban on Australian beef imports to the US.
“We have made it very clear to the United States that we will not compromise on biosecurity,” Albanese said. “We will not weaken the measures that protect our farmers and producers from the risks of disease or contamination.”
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, said Australia’s relationship with the US “hasn’t been treated with respect” by Trump and his administration, but couldn’t immediately say specifically what he would do differently or how he’d secure a better outcome if he won the election.
He repeated Labor’s lines that the tariffs would hurt American consumers and businesses, particularly singling out beef due to low production in the United States. He also claimed Australia had “leverage” in negotiations due to the Aukus deal, American troops being stationed in northern Australia, and our deposits of critical minerals.
But the Liberal leader said “we’re not trading anything away” when asked if he would put the American troops or Aukus deal on the table in negotiations. The Labor government says it already did offer a critical minerals arrangement in negotiations, which was not successful.
Instead Dutton said more broadly that Australia could be “providing assurances” to American navy assets, including in defence industry production, and had “capacity to contribute” to US defence. Dutton later denied this would be “kowtowing” to American pressure.
Dutton also said the news media bargaining code and the ban on under-16s using social media, two key Australian initiatives which big tech companies have complained to Trump about, were “non-negotiable”.
Trump rebuffs calls for exemptions
Australia appears to be one of the least-affected countries under Trump’s new global tariff regime. Countries such as China (34%), India (26%) and Vietnam (46%) were specifically singled out. The EU was hit with a 20% tariff rate.
Australia had made consistent entreaties to be exempted from the tariff regime, arguing it was an ally which runs a trade deficit with the US and which has had a signed and ratified free-trade agreement for two decades.
These have been rebuffed by Trump’s hardline second administration, which says the president regrets the exemptions he gave to Australia in his first term, particularly for the precedent they set for other countries claiming similar carve-outs.
Trump said the US would demand foreign tariffs and trade barriers be dropped before he would consider amending or removing the US’s tariffs.
“To all of the foreign presidents, prime ministers, kings, queens, ambassadors and everyone else who will soon be calling to ask for exemptions from these tariffs, I say – terminate your own tariffs, drop your barriers, don’t manipulate your currencies … and start buying tens of billions of dollars of American goods.”
He urged companies to move plants and factories to the US.
“If you want your tariff rate to be zero, then you build your product in America.”
In his wide-ranging address from the White House, Trump declared the tariffs would spark a “golden age” for America.
“My fellow Americans, this is liberation day: April 2, 2025, will forever be remembered as the day American industry was reborn, the day America’s destiny was reclaimed, and the day that we began to make America wealthy again, going to make it wealthy, good and wealthy.
“For decades our country has been looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far, both friend and foe alike.”
He said jobs and factories would “come roaring back into our country”.
Concern over any penalty for Australian beef
The singling out by Trump of Australia’s ban on US beef imports has raised concerns in the Australian industry. It follows the US trade representative this week identifying Australia’s beef import ban as an unjustified trade barrier.
The US has long regarded American beef as safe and has argued that Australia’s continuing ban on US imports is a protectionist measure, rather than a legitimate biosecurity concern.
Guardian Australia understands US officials have confirmed to Australia’s embassy in Washington that there will be no ban on Australian beef.
Simon Stahl, the chief executive of the Northern Co-operative Meat Company based in northern New South Wales, told the ABC he supported lifting the ban on US beef imports if it was deemed safe.
“If the science says that it’s safe to eat American beef, I think we should allow US beef into our market … the impact on our market would be very minor. Australian beef is obviously preferred, so I think it would be very minor.”
But Stahl said any US move to ban, restrict or impose tariffs on Australian beef into the US would be significant for Australian producers.
“It’s our largest market at present and we’ll continue to be for some time. The US herds are at probably 70-year lows, so demand for Australian beef is at a record.”
