Australian beef exempted from US tariffs as Trump cops cost-of-living backlash

Washington: US President Donald Trump has exempted beef – including billions of dollars worth of Australian exports – from his sweeping tariff program as he responds to growing unrest from American consumers over the cost of living.

An executive order issued late Friday in the US (Saturday AEDT) confirmed beef was among several agricultural products that will no longer be subject to tariffs, including coffee and tea, cocoa, bananas, oranges, tomatoes and additional fertilisers.

That means the 10 per cent tariff applied to most Australian goods from April will no longer apply to beef – one of Australia’s leading exports to the US, with annual sales worth more than $4 billion.

The White House said given Trump had negotiated trade deals with a range of countries, he had determined it was “necessary and appropriate” to remove tariffs from certain products.

Trade Minister Don Farrell on Saturday welcomed the US move and said tariffs ultimately result in extra costs for American consumers. “We maintain our position that tariffs on any Australian products are unjustified, and continue to advocate for their removal,” he said.

But the removal of US beef tariffs is not necessarily advantageous to Australia, as Australia currently enjoys a relatively low tariff compared with other countries such as Canada and Brazil, from which the US also imports a significant amount of beef. For example, Brazilian beef had been subject a 50 per cent tariff.

Australian beef exports to the US are surging to record highs, up 17 per cent in 2025 compared with the first 10 months of the previous year, according to Meat and Livestock Australia.

The US produces its own beef, but not enough, and relies on imports of leaner, grass-fed beef from Australia, among other countries.

The move on beef and other tariffs comes as the Trump administration inked trade deals with several South American nations, as well as Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

The US tariff on Swiss goods will be cut from 39 per cent to 15 per cent, while the White House said Switzerland and Liechtenstein would invest at least $US200 billion ($306 billion) in the US.

These revisions come as Trump faces pressure from voters – as well as from the Republican Party – to address Americans’ concerns about affordability, which was one of his campaign pledges at last year’s election.

Trump has rejected the idea that tariffs are contributing to price increases, and as recently as last week said he did not want to hear complaints about affordability because “everything is down”.

However, grocery prices have continued to rise roughly in line with inflation, which has ticked up to 3 per cent over the course of 2025.

Trump identified beef as a particular concern during an interview with Fox News this week. “The only thing is beef. Beef is a little high [in price] because the ranchers are doing good,” he said.

“Coffee, we’re going to lower some tariffs, we’re going to have some coffee come in. We’re going to take care of all this stuff very quickly, very easily. It’s surgical, it’s beautiful to watch.”

A pound of ground beef has increased from $US5.67 to $US6.33 over the 12 months to September – an increase of 13.5 per cent – the US Bureau of Labour Statistics says.

Brazil had previously rivalled Australia as the biggest US supplier and lowering of its steep tariffs could eat into Australia’s market share, which has been rising despite Trump’s tariffs.

However, agriculture sector consultant Patrick Hutchison, of Gibraltar Strategic Advisory, said US consumer appetite for red meat was growing and because local farmers could not fill the demand, the outlook for Australian exports would remain strong.

“With the 10 per cent tariff being removed from everybody, that just means that everyone’s back to where they were and for Australian producers, I think that you will just see business as usual,” Hutchison said.

US beef producers have battled successive seasons with below-average rainfalls and the size of the national herd is shrinking.

Rabobank senior animal proteins analyst Angus Gidley-Baird said this meant US reliance on imports had remained strong despite the tariffs and lifting them would not significantly impact the market for Australian imports.

“The US demand for beef is so strong at the moment that prices will continue to be good for Australian products,” Gidley-Baird said.

Even if the US lifted its tariffs on Brazil it would only result in a “a little bit of trimming around the edges” of prices for Australian exports, he said.

Last week’s elections, in which Democrats won gubernatorial races in Virginia and New Jersey, and had successes elsewhere, have turbocharged concerns that cost-of-living is becoming a major weakness for Republicans.

Senior figures in the administration have conceded there is an issue. Trump’s trade and manufacturing adviser Peter Navarro, a strong proponent of tariffs, told News Nation there had to be an honest public debate “so that people can have hope about the trajectory that we’re moving in”.

Navarro said he was meeting with a taskforce once a week in the White House Roosevelt Room to formulate “an attack plan to deal with beef prices”.

In a statement, the White House said grocery prices were trending in the right direction and some staples were coming down in price.

“The Trump administration will not rest until the high prices that resulted from Democrat policies are fully reined in,” it said. “We’re making progress, and the best is yet to come.”

The office of the US Trade Representative was contacted for comment.

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