A US senator has come to Australia’s defence over import restrictions on beef, labelling US President Donald Trump’s 10 per cent tariff “insulting” in a heated exchange just hours before his sweeping global trade charges come into effect.
US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer addressed the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday (early Wednesday AEDT), insisting the controversial charges that crashed global stock markets and threatened to spark a US recession were already getting results.
He went as far as to accuse Australia of “specious fake science” as bans on importing some US meat, particularly beef, were brought up multiple times by both Democrats and Republicans.
Greer testified that “about 50” countries had sought talks to escape Trump’s import tariffs, which are due to come into effect at midnight (3pm AEST) on Wednesday, and that he’d “talked to the Australians” about beef.
Texas Republican John Cornyn was the first senator to take a pop at Australia over the restrictions, which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has already declared “not up for negotiation”.
He complained that “Texas happens to produce a lot of beef cattle, and Australia basically denies access to its huge market”.
Greer was happy to take a swing, declaring Canberra’s approach “incredible”.
“It’s always surprising, because we have a free trade agreement with Australia, and we would expect that we would have fair, reciprocal trade,” he said.
“Last year, I think we imported about $US3 billion ($5 billion) of Australian beef, and we exported $0 of American beef to Australia.
“And it’s not just beef. Australia also blocks on specious fake science grounds the export of fresh and frozen US pork.”
In a leaders’ debate on Tuesday night, Albanese said “Australia got the best deal of any country on the planet” while still labelling the tax an “act of economic self-harm” and promising to keep negotiating. Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said he would “stand up against bullies” and “make the right economic decisions for our country”.
They appeared to have an ally in Virginia Democrat Mark Warner, who told the committee Australia was “one of our strongest allies” and forcefully questioned why imports from Down Under were hit with even a 10% charge.
He started by questioning the Trump administration’s “fancy Greek formula” used to calculate the tariffs, which he described as “bad math on steroids”.
“Excuse me, ambassador, excuse me, there is a trade — we already have a free trade agreement. We have a trade surplus,” he said in a heated exchange filled with interruptions.
“So getting the least bad — why did they get a tariff in the first place?”
Greer said the Trump administration was addressing America’s $US1.2 trillion “largest in human history” global trade deficit and “we should be running up the score on Australia”.
“They ban our beef and they ban our pork,” he said.
Warner argued that “insulting the Australians undermines our national security”, labelling the tariff policy “ridiculous” and “extraordinary”.
“Not on my watch. On my watch, our biosecurity system is essential,” he added.
“We will negotiate sensibly but we will not undermine the biosecurity system.”
Greer appeared to shut the door on any easing of tariffs without such a concession.
“We have a lot of countries coming to talk to us right now who want to have more reciprocal trade, get their trade deficit down, and obviously part of that is making sure we have access for products like beef, making sure we’re exporting products like beef,” he said, in response to Wyoming Republican John Barrasso’s complaints that his state’s farmers “can’t sell a hamburger” in Australia.
“I’ve talked to the Australians about this issue. It’s always surprising, because they’re, you know, a great partner for us, this is a big issue with them, South East Asia as well.
“These are things that are on our list. When people come to talk to us. It’s something we’ve reported for years. We expect, we expect countries to change this.”
Several senators demanded that Greer explain what the administration was seeking to accomplish. At various times, Trump has said the tariffs were meant to raise money for the Treasury, bring manufacturing back to the US, protect domestic industries and get other countries to make concessions.
US Lawmakers, including Republicans, are getting jittery about the trade wars, especially since stocks collapsed after he announced broad tariffs last Wednesday.
The market rebounded on Tuesday on hopes that negotiations would convince the president to lower or suspend the tariffs.
“It seems like we’ve decided to begin a trade war on all fronts,″ said Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
He said he wanted to know who in the Trump administration he should hold responsible — and choke — if the tariffs fail and Americans suffer.
“I wish you well,″ he told Greer. “But I am sceptical.”
In a press briefing on Tuesday (early Wednesday AEDT), White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told countries looking for a better deal to “bring us your best offers” but warned retaliation such as from China was a “mistake”.
“President Trump has a spine of steel that he will not break and America will not break under his leadership,” she said.
– reported with Associated Press
