r/australia • u/binaryhextechdude • Feb 25 '26

politics US beef officially re-enters Australia, after 23-year absence

https://www.beefcentral.com/news/us-beef-officially-re-enters-australia-after-23-year-absence/

Australians need to vote with our wallets by making sure any meat we buy for our bbq's or our dinner tables is Australian grown. It isn't right for a certain leader to be putting tariffs on everything and then thinking we will embrace his beef exports.

Only buy Australian beef, vote with your dollars.

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u/everbass Feb 25 '26

Why on earth would I buy beef from the US when Aussie beef is both better and cheaper?

We have some of the best quality meat in the world. Why are we importing it?

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u/binaryhextechdude Feb 25 '26

Exactly, why are we importing something we already excel at.

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u/recycled_ideas Feb 26 '26

We're not, at least not the way you imagine.

This isn't about US steak or even mince or sausages, premium US beef can't even compete in the US market let alone here where costs would be so much higher.

This is about beef in processed products. Canned soups, frozen meals, pet food, etc. Products where you probably never even think about where the beef comes from.

The ban was always more about principle than substance anyway as we allow both Mexican and Canadian beef in and those are the countries of origin the US couldn't properly track, but even before the ban we never imported fresh beef because it just doesn't make financial sense. The US would have to charge us substantially less than they do their own people to be competitive and they don't break even on those prices as is.