Trump-Australia tariffs: US Senate erupts over tax on Aussie imports over beef, pork ban

US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has defended a decision by President Donald Trump’s administration to apply a 10 per cent tariff on Australia despite a free trade agreement, citing the country’s ban on imports of US beef and pork.

“We should be running up the score in Australia,” Mr Greer told a Senate Finance Committee hearing in reply to a question from Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia.

“Despite the agreement, they ban our beef, they ban our pork.”

Australia has restricted entry of US beef due to mad cow disease concerns for more than two decades, stopping almost all shipments.

Mr Greer also told senators that negotiations with countries seeking to lower the reciprocal tariffs announced by Mr Trump last week would proceed country by country.

Mr Greer, responsible for implementing tariffs, is the first official to face Congress since last week’s global tariff announcement.

He said Mr Trump told him he is not planning for tariff exemptions in the near term.

Mr Greer said he has engaged with about 50 countries so far and the “good news” is that most have not indicated they will increase retaliatory tariffs on the US.

Democrat Senator Mr Warner laid into Mr Greer at a Senate hearing over “insulting” Australia with its trade tariff regime.

Australia faces a 10 per cent “baseline” levy on all exports to the US, despite running a decades-long trade surplus with Washington.

“We already have a free trade agreement. We have a trade surplus. So, giving the least bad? Why did they get whacked in the first place?” charged Mr Warner, a leading member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Mr Greer hit back that the Trump administration was “addressing the $1.2 trillion deficit, the largest in human history, that President Biden left us with. We should be running up the score with Australia. They ban our beef, they ban our pork.”

Australia was “getting ready to impose measures on our digital companies,” he argued.

But a fired-up Mr Warner continued his line of attack.

“We have a trade surplus with Australia. We have a free trade agreement. They are incredibly important national security partner. Why have they been whacked with the tariffs?” he asked.

“The idea that we are going to whack friend and foe alike, and particularly friends, I think is insulting to the Australians, undermines our national security and frankly it makes us not a good partner.

“The lack of trust from our friends and allies based upon this ridiculous policy … is extraordinary.”