In the 2025 report titled “foreign trade barriers”, the Trump administration noted several trade issues with Australia, among them our strict ban on importing uncooked American beef, pork and poultry.
Australia is expected to be hit with its biggest tariffs to date and PM Anthony Albanese said the government will “defend” Australia’s export interests on the eve of Trump’s so-called liberation day.
“I have seen this report and the report has three things that are of concern at least. One is the news bargaining code, the second is pharmaceuticals and the third is biosecurity,” Albanese told media today.
“Those issues are not up for negotiation from the Australian government. We will defend Australia’s interests.”
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Albanese said Australia was not prepared to “weaken” its biosecurity laws in order to become exempt from Trump’s imminent tariffs.
He described the ongoing tariff war in the US as an example of “cutting off your nose to spite your face”.
“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.”
The PM also once again said he had a “constructive” relationship with Trump.
Albanese said the government would not come to the negotiating table over the PBS, news bargaining code or our biosecurity laws.
“I have very clearly indicated Australia is not negotiating over the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme,” he said.
“We are not negotiating over the news bargaining code. We will not undermine our bio security.”
The Office of the US Trade Representative shared a list of 21 countries it is “particularly interested in” with Trump as part of a review into “unfair trade practices”.
Australia is among those included. The full list also includes the UK, Argentina, Brazil, China, the European Union, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey and Vietnam.
Trump has threatened to impose reciprocal tariffs on countries which tax American imports as part of a “liberation day of America”.
The president said the tariffs would be “far more generous than those countries were to us”.
Australia was not able to escape Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs despite lobbying for an exemption.
