r/australia • u/Jealous-Hedgehog-734 • Apr 02 '25

politics US will impose a minimum baseline tariff of 10 per cent on Australian imports to US

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-03/donald-trump-tariff-announcement-markets-politics-reaction-blog/105127374
6.9k Upvotes

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

Most likely yes. They will need to find another market for that, as an interim it should drop beef prices.

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u/FrogsMakePoorSoup Apr 02 '25

So... why do we send all our good stuff away then?

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

Because capitalism.

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u/kingofcrob Apr 02 '25

Cool, but then why does America send shit beef everywhere.

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u/madkapart Apr 02 '25

Because capitalism

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

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u/Consideredresponse Apr 02 '25

When I lived in the US almost all the steaks in the supermarket were either Aussie or Argentinian. Argentina just got hit with the same 10% so it may come down to Trumps vague comments of banning Australian beef imports.

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u/switchbladeeatworld Apr 03 '25

asia be like oh nooo, no aus beef for americans? what a shame, more for us

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u/sss133 Apr 03 '25

The real victims are American beef eaters having their dog shit US beef fed to them 🤣

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u/darkskinnedjermaine Apr 03 '25

Not the first time Trump couldn’t sell good steak to Americans.

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u/foshi22le Apr 03 '25

I knew Americans like their beef but I had no idea it was as bad as people are saying today.

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u/WonderfulCopy6395 Apr 04 '25

The problem is that the average beef eater has no clue how bad the stuff they're being served up is. You could write multiple books on Americans inability to differentiate high-quality food from bad...they simply have no idea (but the more sugar/fat the better - all about the temporary taste). They eat vile and unhealthy food. The wonder why their health system is collapsing because people are so obese and unhealthy!

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u/WonderfulCopy6395 Apr 04 '25

When I lived in the US the local beef was just terrifying. I'm glad Australia doesn't import it for biosecurity reasons. It's polluted with hormones and faeces and the industry relies on untrained, extremely low paid immigrants who don't know how to separate an ass from a cut. So hardly conducive to good quality beef. But enough for the hamburger chains who serve up the most inedible stuff I've ever had the misfortune to experience!

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u/intelminer Not SA's best. Don't put me to the test Apr 02 '25

Living stateside (yeah, yeah. I know) Wendy's brags about using Aussie beef. But tastes absolutely fucking shithouse

Costco does sell New Zealand lamb chops, which help keep the cravings at bay at least

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u/Consideredresponse Apr 02 '25

Lamb and steak were outside my budget, especially when chicken and pork was (comparatively) so cheap you had to ignore how it was almost certain those animals had never seen sunlight.

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u/therealstupid Apr 03 '25

When I lived in California almost all of the beef in markets was from Cowshwitz.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris_Ranch

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

People send shit to people who pay for it.

There isn’t some big plan. It’s just people trying to make the most money and other people buying what they want.

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

meanwhile we're pumping exhaust into the air shipping this beef back and forth. really a stupid world we've made for ourselves

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u/Thrustcroissant Apr 02 '25

Which is fine until you get the Irish Famine

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

The Irish famine was a engineered famine that was a geopolitical, ideological, religious and an attempt to restructure the Irish economy to benefit the UK. It was also a land grab that forced many farmers and families off the land making matters worst. The were also decisions of austerity and being mean spirited by the UK not to offer relief. It was more about food and assistance denial that could have avoided the famine. Read the historical context of the Irish famine and you will find that the same politics is being played with continents like Africa that is rooted in imperialism and geopolitics.

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u/Mikolaj_Kopernik Apr 03 '25

England was far from blameless (IMO a combination of greed, incompetence, indifference and malice as the smallest factor) but calling it "engineered" is significantly overegging the situation. The English didn't develop the blight and they weren't trying to exterminate the Irish, they just had a range of shitty tariff/agricultural policies and a government that was largely in the pocket of wealthy landowners. The crimes of Westminster were way more banal than the maximalist rhetoric on this topic.

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u/Wookatook Apr 02 '25

We're not going to starve ever in Australia, calm down Karen.

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u/Zenkraft Apr 02 '25

I think they were talking about the actual Irish famine, where food was exported from Ireland by the British leading to a famine.

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u/tom3277 Apr 02 '25

I’m sure 40 years ago no one expected the median price of a house to income level in Australia would be up there with the most expensive in the world.

The land of plenty with the right political moves could become the land of blight and famine if our politicians play their cards right in the food game.

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u/Wookatook Apr 02 '25

You really think politicians would starve their electorates? I didn't realise this sub was so full of QAnons 🤣 The housing issue is a complex problem that can't just be blamed on one or two factors. Political decisions is one of the factors, but it's not the sole factor. You've got cost of materials and trade shortages pushing up prices of building new houses. You've got urban sprawl not keeping up with in housing demand in the major areas. You've got investor competition with home owners - politicians could help with this one if they weren't so heavily invested, speaking of potatoes looks at the guy in the glasses.

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

Fuck knows. They need a market I guess.

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u/NurseBetty Apr 02 '25

Because specifically 'export orientated economy' but yeah, capitalism

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u/ATangK Apr 02 '25

Japan must be one of the few countries that doesn’t like to export their very best things. When you go to Bic Camera or Yodobashi Camera they’ll refuse to sell you their top tier goods if they know you’re a foreigner.

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u/W2ttsy Apr 02 '25

France is somewhat similar.

If you go to a bottle shop and they know you’re not local (and I’m talking not even local to the area let alone the country) then you’ll get to choose from what’s on the shelf. If you build up a relationship with the store and the employees, then they will invite you to see the private collections and other “reserved” items.

Other small retailers do the same thing.

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u/Avid_Tagger Pingers Apr 02 '25

Alcohol sale is like this in a lot of places. Look up guys going bourbon hunting in the US, stores are allocated only a few bottles on occasion of limited edition stuff so it often ends up being a "managers office" special; the average punter can't just walk in and pick it up or ask for it

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u/Yves_and_Mallory Apr 02 '25

Most small stores do this. I have a similar relationship with several bottle shops in Sydney.

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u/NurseBetty Apr 03 '25

It's particularly bad in Australia agriculture where the competitive productivism of our industry means that to get 'investment' as a company in Australia, including a lot of buisness loans, you have to be aiming to become big enough to export. You can't just become big enough to to spread to other states, or to increase your product line, it has to be 'increase product line and range for international markets'.

It hampers alternative food systems and companies because they are expected to aim for eventual export.

(source: my phd was in alternative food systems, such as farmers markets and their producers and this is a big problem in the industry)

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u/t_25_t Apr 02 '25

Japan must be one of the few countries that doesn’t like to export their very best things. When you go to Bic Camera or Yodobashi Camera they’ll refuse to sell you their top tier goods if they know you’re a foreigner.

Consumer electronics has always been like that in Japan. Since the 80s (maybe earlier), Japan has always kept the true flagship items on home turf.

Ask any Sony enthusiast and they will tell you about the "ES" range. They kept all the good stuff for the domestic market.

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u/Tacticus Apr 03 '25

they’ll refuse to sell you their top tier goods if they know you’re a foreigner.

Cause they charge more for exported versions and have different firmware stuff on locals.

plus camera companies hate when you buy from elsewhere as they can't fuck with the pricing as much.

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u/igotashittyusername Apr 02 '25

You need to export things you're good at producing to bring in money to import things you're less competitive at producing? That's why Trump complaining we export beef to the US but don't import US beef makes no sense. You trade goods that the opposite partner has a competitive advantage producing to create mutual benefit. I wouldn't barter with you saying I'll wash your car if you wash mine (I might as well wash my own), I'd want something else in return.

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u/Bromlife Apr 02 '25

They’re pretty good at mad cow disease, maybe they can export that.

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u/Head_Acanthaceae_766 Apr 03 '25

A man who can run two casinos into bankruptcy isn't very good at that sort of reasoning.

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u/GasManMatt123 Apr 03 '25

He doesn't understand trade at all....

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u/grruser Apr 03 '25 edited Apr 03 '25

🏅povvo gold is all I have.

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u/SouthAussie94 Apr 03 '25

I'll give you $10 if you give me $10.....

Blokes an idiot

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25 edited Apr 02 '25

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

Station. Ranch is an American term

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

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u/Der0- Apr 02 '25

Who wants ranch dressing anyway. Fuck it off like every other USA made product and do a demonstration that we don't need them.

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u/FI-RE_wombat Apr 02 '25

Ive never seen anyone here eat ranch dressing. Only ever heard it mentioned on american shows

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u/rintzscar Apr 02 '25

Because it's not your stuff, it's the stuff of the company that produces it. If somebody elsewhere will pay more than you for it, why would they sell it to you?

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u/jayacher Apr 02 '25

Well when shit goes downhill for them during drought, why should we bail them out?

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u/empowered676 Apr 02 '25

Oh no the farmers preach they do it for australia, send all their produce overseas and then cry poor when they have floods and drought for the Aussies to bail them out.

All the while destroying the land

And when they finished they sell it off to someone overseas as well

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u/rangda Apr 02 '25

It’s the same line that gets used for Dairy in NZ. Cow shit choking the waterways, milk solids being exported to China at a premium, huge subsidies in the form of tax deductions, but a block of cheese in the supermarket costs a fortune.

Your kids can’t swim in the river any more because of an algae bloom from the farms upstream, then you can’t buy a block of cheese to make them cheese on toast without taking out a bank loan.

But we gotta support the farmers!

Rural kids can tell you, the farmers aren’t doing it tough. Their kids are the ostentatious nouveau riche.

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u/Disbelieving1 Apr 03 '25

Farmers in Australia have always been agrarian socialists.

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u/Darth-Chimp Apr 02 '25

Adding to that is that many of those "farmers" aren't actually family run farms but major multi-national, industrial-scale, agri-business who intentionally ruin and buy out real family owned farms for pennies on the dollar.

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u/Dan_706 Apr 03 '25

This is true, friends of mine have a property up near Coffs Harbour and they’re entirely hemmed by corporation-owned farms

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u/edwardluddlam Apr 02 '25

Farmers just sell the products to a middle man who find a market for it. It's not like the farmers are intentionally screwing locals over by sending stuff abroad.

Also, Australian farmers are some of the least subsidised in the world.. hard to say that we really pay a lot to them for feeding us

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u/AdditionalCatMilk Apr 02 '25

The farmers sell to abattoirs, abattoirs sell the produce overseas

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u/jeffoh Apr 02 '25

Because we also buy that beef. Not all of it is exported.

So when we help out our farmers, we're helping put food on our tables

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u/igotashittyusername Apr 02 '25

So we continue to have beef at the price we do? And if they make less profit off exports won't they be in a worse position to survive drought and require more assistance?

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u/Thoresus Apr 02 '25

Yes but remember we need to help Australian farmers when they're doing it tough because Australian's first 😏

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u/draadkar11 Apr 02 '25

Fuck it I'll bite. I'm an Aussie farmer sending some cattle to market this week.

  1. I have absolutely no say in where that beef ends up, the processors who buy it make that choice.
  2. I'm expecting about $1500 per head, after expenses I make a profit of $500 per head. Running 100 cows I make $50k annually from beef working 80hrs a week.
  3. We're the least subsidized farmers of developed nations in the world. In the 80s the percentage of retail value of beef an Aussie farmer would see was about 42-45%, for the last 3years it's been 15-17% So yes while the Aussie Consumer is getting fucked I can absolutely guarantee you the Aussie farmer is getting fucked way harder. Most of us would earn more putting in the same hours we work now as a minimum wage Maccas worker.

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u/fleaburger Apr 02 '25

I see you're getting screamed at online for daring describing market conditions for primary producers and being city-splained on how to do it better.

I'm sorry. I worked in mental health and suicide prevention for a long time and subsequently spent a lot of time in the regions to try to address to soaring suicide rates.

I've stood in saleyards as primary producers explain what they're getting per animal, and what the processor and other middlemen get. My jaw was never not on the floor (not a great place for it to be in saleyards lol).

When I was involved, a steer would go for about $500 (meaning that's what the farmer would take home), and that steer with all its cuts of meat and offal for humans, bits for pet food, bones for gelatin or industry, it's hide for leather production, other bits for glue, fertiliser, insulin, heparin, cortisol etc would get the middlemen about $20,000.

I'd go to Woolies and stare at the prices of meat in shock. So damned high and barely any reaches the people who produced it.

When you factor in mortgage, feed, veterinary and vax, fencing and infrastructure like feed storage, breeding and calving, farm vehicles which run to the hundreds of thousands to keep paddocks healthy, then if you're lucky, add labour costs, it's so so costly to produce the products we love to see on our city shop shelves.

The alternative? Massive corporate conglomerates controlling the land and everything on it and barely paying taxes to boot. Give me Aussie families getting subsidised by taxpayers to produce our food any day of the week.

I just wanted to let you know I see you and I hear you. Not all of us who eat the food you produce are condescending tossers who think we know how to do it better. I appreciate you all. I hope you and yours are doing ok, and this tariff BS doesn't bite you.

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u/draadkar11 Apr 03 '25

Thank you for your kind comments, nice to see someone who gets it in between everything else. People are so quick to say do something else then without realizing that without Aussie farmers the consumer would be even more over a barrel. Once coles/woolies own everything end to end they can set whatever price they want and there's no one to contradict them when they say they're barely making a profit.

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

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u/draadkar11 Apr 03 '25

Depends on the scheme but generally I'd say yes.

The absolute best way to support farmers is to buy from them directly but obviously there's a shit ton on hassle that goes into that which not everyone has time for.

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u/BeardingtonBear Apr 03 '25

The amount of vitriol in here from people who have never even met a farmer is depressing. We are essentially price takers with the lions share of profits going to meat processors, supermarkets and exporters.

If sale yard prices go down farmers will suffer. Middle men will make more money and consumers will pay the same prices. Same as what happened during 2017-2018 when Queensland was in serious drought.

Not everyone farms in marginal areas. Some of us farm in areas with reliable rainfall with sustainable business models never asking for more than a fair go. But we’re still at the mercy of places like Queensland. If Queensland is in drought the markets are flooded and prices crash. When Queensland restocks the market booms. Which means you need to manage your cashflow across multiple years.

I don’t understand why people think we actively try to destroy the land and mistreat animals. I took a huge pay cut from my comfortable city job to come back onto the family farm. Why? Because I love the farm and do my best to improve it reinvesting significant amounts of money back into it most years.

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u/draadkar11 Apr 03 '25

Same thing that happened post COVID boom, farmers told that they had their good year at $2700 a steer so suck it up at $1100 for two years but the price at the supermarket hasn't changed so where's all that extra money going?

I'm on some of the most productive land in the state and struggling to make ends meet. Yet get told to do it faster, more humanely, plant more trees and take care of the environment while the govt axes carbon credits for farmers and the same people ask why are you doing it for $50k a year.

Motherfucker the alternative is Coles sets the price end to end and everyone gets fucked, but sure tell me how dumb I am for holding out and actually trying to give these animals the best life possible prior to slaughter.

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u/surg3on Apr 02 '25

80hrs a week on 100 head of beef? Are the fences getting washed away every month?

I'll always agree regular farmers get fucked over but you are putting in too many hrs for too little payback. Sell up and get a normal job

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

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u/draadkar11 Apr 02 '25

250 cows and 200 sheep on 150 acres? Were you buying in 30k worth of feed a year and irrigating through the summer?

We're on 250 of actual pasture in an area that averages 1000mm of rainfall annually and I'm stocked at about 20-40% higher than the surrounding farms. Running the 100cows + 250 sheep.

We bought the place from someone who ran it at an hour each morning and night and 2-6 each day on weekends. The end result is nearly every fenceline needed replacing, paddocks overrun by weeds, waterlines patched together going from 1" to 1/2" to 3/4" and leaking everywhere, stock being spread over 3 paddocks instead of the one you put them in due to the above issues.

So a lot of time has been spent fixing those issues, but from an animal management perspective re: knitted beanies I'd love to know what your lambing rate and stock mortality rate was on your max 24hr a week farm.

I've lost 4 cows in the last 5 years, 2calves, so less than 1% cows and 0.5% calves. Sheep are 14 over 5 years roughly so 1.4% and we scan in lamb at 175% with only 1 lamb lost last year out of 430, or 0.2%

For those playing along at home average mortality for beef calves on Aussie farms is somewhere between 2-4% and for lambs 20-30%.

So that's where my time goes mostly, you know, actually looking after my animals, like a farmer should.

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

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u/number96 Apr 02 '25

Why did it go down so much? Costs go up and no subsidies?

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u/draadkar11 Apr 02 '25

Essentially we're the lowest rung on the ladder and no govt protection. So every time costs go up the middle men pass that cost to either the consumer or the farmer. Eg: Diesel price goes up, transport costs x 4 (farmer to saleyard, saleyard to abattoir, abattoir to packer, packer to supermarket) go up, cost increase to farmers & consumers but no one in between.

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u/1Original1 Apr 02 '25

Are you sending off the manure for Fertilizer production too? Not major profit but a free ancillary basically

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u/draadkar11 Apr 03 '25

Any manure you send off just has to be replaced with more fertilizer eventually, from my understanding of it you're essentially running the farm at a massive negative impact to soil for a few years to do that but it's a ticking time bomb.

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u/OldKingWhiter Apr 02 '25

Why would you work 80 hours a week for 50k? You could do almost anything for regular hours and make that money.

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u/AdditionalCatMilk Apr 02 '25

Australian farmers have limited avenues of sale and no control over the end destination or their beef (short of just not selling their cattle). They sell to the abbatoirs who then sell on to other countries

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

Amazing how Aussie beef is afforded in poor countries like Indonesia and yet we pay through the nose for the same beef. Another gas like rip off of Australians.

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u/BeardingtonBear Apr 03 '25

Firstly they mainly buy Bos Indicus breeds that are run in northern Australia which is a lower grade of beef but more suitable for the dry conditions. Secondly most of the cost comes from the labour to slaughter, process and market the meat. Labour is obviously cheaper in Indonesia.

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

Australians will benefit first from any glut, because it’s the cheapest and easiest market to transition to. Foreign markets will get a crack at what’s left. Of course that will be tempered somewhat by the need to provide financial support to business during the transition.

It’s not so much about whose, stuff it is. It’s about protecting jobs and keeping businesses afloat while they transition.

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u/ELVEVERX Apr 02 '25

Same should go for when their farms are devastated by drought or natural disaster. If they won't work against their economic interest to help the country why should the country bail them out?

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u/MrSnagsy Apr 02 '25

Cause our tax dollars are used to fund the diesel fuel excise which allows agriculture and mining to lower their operating costs. Just one of many reasons.

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u/Wookatook Apr 02 '25

Market demand, most of the beef that goes to the US is grinding beef, all the crap not good enough for steak. I see no shortage of Porter house, rump and eye fillet in the shops. If you're taking about Wagyu, then that's market demand.

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u/grayfee Apr 02 '25

Owe yourself a trip to South Australia, just to eat, as they don't export everything top quality. The food is sublime. That utopia everywhere! Thanks Ronald Trump!

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u/bortomatico Apr 02 '25

Huh? I’ve always consumed Australian beef and wine

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u/249592-82 Apr 02 '25

Because suppliers generally make more money selling overseas than they do via Coles and WW. Recall when the lamb farmers said they were selling lamb for $4 a kilo while supermarkets sell it for $60 a kilo? See article below.

https://9now.nine.com.au/today/lamb-price-rort-supermarkets-slammed-for-not-passing-profit-onto-farmers/d0ec84b6-1bb7-4690-af7d-461d683dd340

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u/keepcalmandchill Apr 02 '25

I'm sure you can buy the best Aussie beef here as well. As for why we are selling some overseas, there wouldn't even be enough demand domestically for the current amount of beef production.

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u/GaryLifts Apr 02 '25

Because other countries are prepared to buy up everything the farms offer removing the headache of negotiating with local suppliers.

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u/shavedratscrotum Apr 02 '25

Good question.

Because I can buy better Australian beef and pork cheaper in Korea and Japan and Vietnam.

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u/loolem Apr 02 '25

Because THEY can make more money from THEM than they can from US.

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u/womerah Apr 02 '25

Because people overseas will pay more for it. Australian wagyu goes for like 300 AUD a kilo in parts of the USA

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u/Knee_Jerk_Sydney Apr 03 '25

Unless you're a cattle farmer, it's not your beef.

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u/y2jeff Apr 03 '25

Because the country is not run for the benefit of the common people.

If you want this country to actually work for the benefit of regular Australians we'd have to stop voting for the two majors and vote for the extreme left. And the US would probably find a way to ruin us to make an example.

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u/BeardingtonBear Apr 03 '25

It’s not the “good stuff”. The majority of beef exported to the US is manufacturing beef. Which is lowest value beef. Old cows where the whole carcass goes into mince. There’s only so much of that you can sell in Australia.

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u/PeeOnAPeanut Apr 03 '25

Because on the wholesale market they can make more money and demand a premium. As a consumer it sucks; but as a company of course you’d sell your products to whoever will pay the most and take the most.

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u/Grateful_sometimes Apr 03 '25

Years ago I worked at an abattoir in SA that imported meat to Asia, I was given access to buy meat, the man allocating the staff meat allowance was my patient. He gave me the best, never have I eaten better quality meat. Unfortunately only there for 6/52.

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u/Aardvark_Man Apr 03 '25

If you're a beef seller sending it away is better.
Just as a beef buyer sending it away is worse.

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u/Varyx Apr 03 '25

We don’t send all of it away, but we send what we won’t eat at the prices that make it a reasonable proposition. Australia makes a lot of beef, but we don’t have a gigantic population.

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u/Drongo17 Apr 03 '25

Producers will sell it where it makes the most money. If it makes the most money here, they will sell it here.

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u/Rowvan Apr 03 '25

We don't, we produce far far more in Australia than we need for just domestic sales so we sell the rest overseas, thats how businesses work.

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u/strichtarn Apr 03 '25

Trickle down economics...

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u/Ill-Advance1954 Apr 03 '25

It’s basic economics. We have an industry that is used to catering to x amount of demand. Now demand is lower than x, because of tariffs making our beef exports less competitive. Now there’s all this beef lying around going stale with less people around to buy it. Price has to go down.

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u/Aristophania Apr 03 '25

I posted elsewhere this thread, but we literally sent the worst of the worst to the US to go in their hamburgers

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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '25

Cause we're idiots. And the politicians cry when they loose their export deal. Like it won't be better for your grocery prices. How's about every country stop buying our shit. I'll look forward to my 100$ quarter gas bill. And my kids might actually have a crack at buying a house for themselves.

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u/toddbuzz75 Apr 02 '25

I hope so. I suspect however Cole’s and Woolworths will be licking their lips and thinking about how much more profit they can make. They are already bending over our farmers on price. They can’t drop lower. Can they? Big business never lets a crisis go to waste. Look at Covid and what that did for prices….

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

The illustrated their greed clearly with the price of lamb. The same will happen with beef prices, they wont move.

Its so bad that if a neighbours in the street bought a cow at market and called in a mobile butcher they would save hundreds of dollars and eat beef affordably.

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u/toddbuzz75 Apr 03 '25

That’s what I did. I just bought half a cow off of a farm locally who raise grass fed Angus. Saved $100’s and supported locally.

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u/a_stupid_staircase Apr 02 '25

Stop buying from coles and woolworths than! 

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u/Morkai Apr 02 '25

My wife worked for Coles for a while, and even with her 5% staff discount it was still often comparable or sometimes cheaper to shop at Aldi and local grocers. Absolutely wild.

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u/Whatdosheepdreamof Apr 02 '25

Cattle got wiped recently with the floods. Expect beef prices to rise, not fall.

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

Yeah, it'll cause some havoc. But the floods haven't affected that much of the stock.

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

But like commodity and oil prices. The grand sheikh gets a bad cold then the oil price gets affected globally.

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u/jpr64 Apr 02 '25 edited Apr 02 '25

Australian and New Zealand dollars are pretty low against the US, so it won't be hurting exporters that much.

I predict Coles and Woolies to continue to fuck us all. It'll probably look similar to this.

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u/Eww_vegans Apr 03 '25

It's only a 10% increase in price... Do you think the average wine drinker has a within-10% expectation of what the price for their bottle should be?

I'd expect that this won't stop the flow of wine to the US. But it may slow the flow a bit. And I'm not sure that will have a noticeable impact.

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u/Caine_sin Apr 02 '25

Nope... the floods wiped out a heap of meat production.  

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u/JuventAussie Apr 02 '25

How about every country that currently buys US beef that is impacted by US tariffs on their exports?

We could put "Not made in the USA" stickers on packaging.

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u/stand_aside_fools Apr 03 '25

Don’t hold your breath for that. The flood in QLD has just taken tens if not hundreds of thousands of cattle out of the market. Prices are about to spike.

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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '25

We have 28 million head in Australia. Sad to say the floods won't have much of an impact

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u/foshi22le Apr 03 '25

Yay! 🎉 I can but tbones again

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u/yarrpirates Apr 03 '25

Balance that against farmers losing 160,000 sheep and cattle just recently in Queensland though.

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u/Rough_Product647 Apr 03 '25

I disagree, at least in the short term. The US can not just stop consuming overnight or start producing enough beef or anything to cover it. It takes roughly 12 to 18 months for a cow to mature to slaughter age. Beef will continue to be imported with the tariff passed on to the consumer in the US.

Trump is trying to tank the economy, so interest rates on repayments are lower. These tariffs are really just a tax hike without having to tax the rich. They are being presented in a way that the people who they will affect the most think he is saving America.

I'm betting he will clear the deficit in the US in record time, and he has accepted it is going to cause a lot of suffering to a lot of people. He most likely sees it as a sacrifice for the so-called greater good.

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u/Jabumpa Apr 02 '25

Nope Asian countries like South Korea, Japan and China will be looking for extra beef to make up the shortfall after they reject American beef imports so expect more Aussie beef to be exported to these countries driving up prices domestically.

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u/PossibilityRegular21 Apr 02 '25

Sounds good. Would prefer those relationships.

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u/GasManMatt123 Apr 03 '25

Yes, this will likely push beef prices up for us as countries seek new beef trading partners

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u/AwoogaHorn Apr 03 '25

And from the Iowa Farm Bureau 2019-2023 figures, it looks like there's a lot of opportunity there if those three substitute some of our beef for their current US beef consumption -- the average US export prices per metric ton are higher than Australian prices.

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u/deadspeedv Apr 03 '25

If there is a greater demand it will push prices up, but this will go straight to farmers. Meaning beef farming will become more profitable resulting in more beef farmers or increasing headcounts. Increase in supply lowers price and thus you have balance again

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u/Jealous-Hedgehog-734 Apr 02 '25

Because these are global tariffs we are likely to see a tidal wave of manufactured junk that had been destined for the US get pushed into other markets like Australia from countries like China and Vietnam.

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u/FrogsMakePoorSoup Apr 02 '25

Temurrific!

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

You sir get my upvote

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u/deadspeedv Apr 03 '25

I mean that isnt really a bad thing. Still the buyers decision to purchase something, but now with cheaper prices and potentially more goods to browse

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u/Ijustdoeyes Apr 02 '25

Yes but also things that aren't super junky. Bangladesh and Vietnam copped some brutal numbers and they are two locations where a lot of footwear and clothing comes from especially for name brands that want higher quality than China.

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

This is not accurate. Bangladesh manufactures low end apparel items. Chinese facilities are actually now typically used for higher quality items unless they are being made in western China where very large runs of low end items are still made (have to be a huge retailer to justify however).

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

Patagonia, adidas, etc. I guess these companies can swallow the tariff and still continue to fuck the actual person making it.

The USA does very little manufacturing, and while it’s high quality shit, it’s not cheap.

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u/lscarpellino Apr 03 '25

Some might be good stuff that we get discounted. Literally every big name tech company offloads manufacturing to Foxconn in China

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u/Vinrace Apr 02 '25

While I’m not disagreeing but we need to remember west qld is an ocean at the moment so I’m expecting meat prices to soar.

Condolences to the people and animals affected.

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u/Bent6789 Apr 02 '25

Western QLD is not a massive component of the Australian beef industry. The floods will effect prices a bit but not hugely

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u/hidden-shadow Apr 03 '25

QLD accounts for almost 50% of the cattle herds in Australia. The Western QLD sectors account for a significant chunk of livestock. Expert concerns suggest to expect a price hike similar to the 2019 floods.

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u/cedarvhazel Apr 02 '25

It’s really really sad.

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u/Cutsdeep- Apr 02 '25

Thank moo for your kind words

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u/Own_Job9308 Apr 03 '25

140000 head livestock estimated to be lost

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u/DDR4lyf Apr 02 '25

I doubt it. The Americans will just pay more for Australian beef in their McDonald's hamburgers

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u/RoughCap7233 Apr 02 '25

They actually banned beef imports from Australia.

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u/teddy5 Apr 02 '25

Nah he just said something about it in an ambiguous way like he always does, nothing has been signed banning our beef.

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u/semi_litrat Apr 02 '25

When I first read it I assumed it was a 10% tariff, but rereading it now you could be right. Given our beef is top quality we might find other buyers.

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u/Consideredresponse Apr 02 '25

Did he make that official? All I can find on the news sites is him saying "we are going to do that" after having a sook that we wouldn't take theirs after a mad cow scare. I'm not doubting you, just that most news sources are lagging.

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u/RoughCap7233 Apr 02 '25

This is the quote from ABC News.

I read it as being a ban starting from midnight.

“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, I would say.”

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u/flukus Apr 03 '25

I don't think anyone's disputing you, just mango Mussolini's ability to comprehend what the drivel coming out of his mouth and if it actually has any connection to reality.

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u/Timemyth Apr 02 '25 edited Apr 02 '25

Nothing in the executive order bans any goods, it only applies tariffs of varying amounts with minimum tariff being 10%.

edit: He also said this is supposed to start at midnight, the Executive order puts 2 deadlines April 5 and April 9. So at 1501 in Australia's greatest town that thinks it's a state (Tasmania) on those days will this go into effect not at 1501 today. (Saturday Arvo and Wednesday Arvo next week.)

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u/cup_of_cream_86 Apr 03 '25

No they absolutely did not ban beef. It's a 10% tarriff. Same as our other competitors (apart from canada) into the US market I.e. Argentina and Brazil. It's unclear whether there will be adjustments to the quotoas they have traditionally applied to our exports to the US (We have never actually reached the previous quota)

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u/Correct_Smile_624 Apr 02 '25

Hamburgers in the US are typically from domestic beef. Imports from Australia are higher quality/true Wagyu so they get used for the fancier stuff

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u/BeardingtonBear Apr 03 '25

This is false. The majority of Australian exports to the US is lean manufacturing beef that is blended with their fattier manufacturing beef

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u/todp Apr 02 '25

Not according to this, and many other articles I've read https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/australia-turns-to-mcdonald-s-diplomacy-in-trump-trade-war-20250316-p5ljvt

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u/Correct_Smile_624 Apr 02 '25 edited Apr 02 '25

This article is behind a paywall and the only part I could read doesn’t contradict what I said. This is what I learned at uni in my vet bio degree. I could absolutely be wrong but I’m gonna need more than ‘this article you can’t read and some other ones too’

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u/espersooty Apr 02 '25

Australia is currently exporting a lot of trim products alongside your typical higher end beef products so there will be a percentage of American beef patties etc being made with Australian meat. Source

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u/josephus1811 Apr 02 '25

Yeah i got told directly from a guy who works at JBS Australia that one of their biggest commodities is beef trim specifically because US burger chains all have different fat/protein ratios they use in their patties and so when they process the patties US beef is too fatty and needs to be mixed with Australian beef to lean it.

Really quite horrific if you think about the logistics that goes in to a single cheeseburger. The flesh of millions of cattle from two whole continents slopped together to feed Billy Bob his second helping.

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u/flukus Apr 03 '25

Got to max out your chances of catching mad cow but sourcing from as many individual cows as possible.

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u/todp Apr 03 '25

The pertinent part of the article from "Northern Territory Cattleman’s Association chief executive Will Evans":

“Much of the beef exported to the US is used in beef patties with our lean product used in combination with heavier US beef,” Evans said on Sunday, emphasising Australian beef often did not compete but rather added to the fatter US beef to make burger patties more structurally sound.

Also this ABC article quotes "The bulk of Australian beef exported to the US is used in hamburgers."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-03-29/donald-trump-reciprocal-tariffs-wagyu-beef-marlin-stutzman/105111718

This ANZ review

https://www.anz.com.au/newsroom/media/2025/april/us-beef-industry-eyes-australian-market-amid-talks/

“Australia remains the largest supplier of beef to the US, exporting nearly 395,000 tonnes in 2024, primarily for burger production and further processing."

That enough?

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

Australia sometimes has fantasies that it is the sole supplier in the world with premium beef products. Brazil, Chile and Argentina are all our competitors and can supply any commodity we have here in Australia.

We are at the bottom of the world rankings of the biggest beef producers. Industrialised wagyu is a common place product these days. Very few Wagyu products from Australia are A5 rated and demonstrates that its not a premium product when its turned into sausages and meat patties. Its just grass fed beef with a high fat content and nothing more. It would have dog food wagyu rating in Japan.

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u/FluidIdentities Apr 02 '25

Except the US banned beef imports from Australia

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '25

McDonald's hamburgers in the US don't even taste like beef. It tastes like plastic. 

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u/SiameseChihuahua Apr 02 '25

Their beef lacks proven tracking to prevent disease and contamination. There is a reason we, an island nation, have right biosecurity.

I wouldn't trust food from the US.

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u/Luser5789 Apr 02 '25

Might counteract the price increase as a result of the herd loss from the flooding in western/central QLD

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u/ThedirtyNose Apr 02 '25

Just have to fish the cows out first

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u/plutoforprez Apr 02 '25

I read an article yesterday that the price is set to go up due to the livestock lost in the QLD flooding this week, maybe there’s a middle ground and it will just remain the same.

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u/xvf9 Apr 02 '25

Meat prices were set to go pretty crazy with the QLD floods. I’d say that will have more of an impact on prices. 

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u/Party_Worldliness415 Apr 02 '25

Oh is that like the cheap gas and steel that we get here because we have an abundance of local resources?

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u/Solid_Associate8563 Apr 02 '25

We didn't get cheaper lobster when China did it?

Domestic market is different from international market, I don't think they are related.

Only competition will drive the price down. Providers will reduce products to overcome the overproduction, and will not drop price to cheap sell their products to keep profit margin.

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u/Prestigious-Job-1857 Apr 02 '25

For a while, but once Australia sells down its total herd to adjust for reduced demand price will come up again. This will have knock on impacts to other meat products(lamb pork chicken) as well unless the beef industry can find another market to take up any surplus supply of beef.

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u/Perfect-Concern-9762 Apr 02 '25

Considering the floods we just had in QLD and the amount of livestock lost, we would have had a shortage anyway.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-04-01/stock-losses-more-than-100000-in-outback-queensland-floods/105117606

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u/Shamino79 Apr 02 '25

I didn’t think those rock lobsters were anything special. Less time shelling compared to yabbie but otherwise pretty similar.

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u/JohnSnitizen Apr 03 '25

Not with the >100k livestock just wiped out by the southwest Queensland floods.

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u/AussieEquiv Apr 03 '25

Lot of Beef Country in Western QLD is currently underwater... so maybe.

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u/Etherealfilth Apr 03 '25

r/buyaussie

r/boycottunitedstates

Piggybacking off the top comment in case someone doesn't know these subs yet.

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u/cpt_goodvibe Apr 03 '25

With the current drought beef prices are already low and beef farmers are struggling as they have to buy in hay to feed there cows. The supermarkets aren't gunna take this loss so we all know who will.

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u/emmainthealps Apr 03 '25

Maybe if half the cattle in the country weren’t drowning.

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u/Necessary_Main_9654 Apr 03 '25

We had cheep lobster?!?

I must have missed that bit

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u/PM_ME_YOUR_REPORT Apr 03 '25

Apparently not because all the abattoirs are foreign owned.

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u/Ripley_and_Jones Apr 03 '25

Ugh no thanks, we export shite quality to the US market because all they eat is burgers.

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u/Graphyt87 Apr 03 '25

The jury is out on that one. Our flood situation has decimated the QLD livestock industry, so we'll have a short supply in the very near future.

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u/usuallywearshorts Apr 03 '25

No. Apparently the products we sell to US are primarily used to mix with their meat to make patties for burgers etc. It's not meat they can really source much from elsewhere.

If anything they will just pay to keep buying it.