Australia’s Albanese says compromise on biosecurity ‘not worth it’ ahead of Trump talks

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said American beef imports still posed risks to the Australian cattle industry

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (left) takes a selfie with a resident during a visit to the flood-affected region of Taree, New South Wales, on May 27. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 10:35am, 6 Jun 2025Updated: 12:00pm, 6 Jun 2025

Australia will not relax its strict biosecurity rules during tariff negotiations with the United States, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Friday ahead of a potential meeting with US President Donald Trump at the G7 summit this month.

Australia has restricted the entry of US beef since 2003 due to the detection of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, known as mad cow disease, but it exports beef worth A$4 billion (US$2.6 billion) annually to the US, its largest market.

“We will not change or compromise any of the issues regarding biosecurity – full stop, exclamation mark. It’s simply not worth it,” Albanese told ABC Radio.

Trump in April singled out Australian beef while announcing a 10 per cent baseline tariff on all imports.

Years of dry weather have shrunk US cattle numbers to their lowest since the 1950s, but Australia, with a herd swollen by wet weather, is flush with supply, offering lower prices and lean cuts that the US lacks.

A report in The Sydney Morning Herald newspaper on Friday, citing unidentified government officials, said Australian authorities were reviewing whether to allow entry of beef products from cattle raised in Mexico and Canada but slaughtered in the US, as the Trump administration has demanded.

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