Beef features in tariff thinking
A fact-sheet that the White House shared with reporters at the time of the April 2 announcement on new US tariffs made specific reference to beef and to trading partners’ positions on beef that the US regards as unfair.
It said that the UK maintains “non-science-based standards that severely restrict US exports of safe, high-quality beef”.
The same fact-sheet said Argentina has banned imports of US live cattle since 2002 owing to “unsubstantiated concerns regarding bovine spongiform encephalopathy”. It said the US now has a $223 million trade deficit with Argentina in beef and beef products.
Still specific to beef, President Trump said on making the April 2 announcement that this was one of the reasons for including Australia among the countries facing new tariffs. He said: “Australians are wonderful people, but they ban American beef. They won’t take any of our beef, yet we imported $3 billion of Australian beef last year alone.”
Australia, Argentina and the UK are all among the countries that now face a baseline tariff of 10% on all exports to the US.
Image: USDA/David Riley.
