Trump takes another brutal swipe against Australia in social media tirade

By ANTOINETTE MILIENOS FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Published: 21:50 BST, 7 April 2025 | Updated: 22:15 BST, 7 April 2025

Donald Trump has taken yet another swipe at Australian beef exports in a social media frenzy. 

Trump faced a barrage of criticism following his ‘Liberation Day’ address announcing new global tariffs, with Australia slapped with 10 per cent on all exports to the US. 

On Monday, US time, Trump used his social media platform to defended his decision and mostly re-posted comments from Republicans and supporters of the tariffs. 

Trump re-posted a comment from Senator for Wyoming John Barrasso which claimed the US has not sold ‘one hamburger in Australia’. 

Senator Barrasso appeared on FoxNews and claimed the cattle producers in Wyoming backed Trump’s new tariffs.

Wyoming is just one state where beef production plays and integral role in the economy and is home to more than 1.3million cattle and over 5,7000 cattle farms and ranches. 

‘I appreciate what the President is doing on tariffs…’Australia has sold $29 billion worth of beef in the United States, and we haven’t been able to sell one hamburger in Australia because of barriers,’ Senator Barrasso said.

‘You look at these numbers, and the ranchers of Wyoming are saying thank you Mr. President, it is about time!’ 

Trump re-posted comments from a Senator praising his new global tariffs on Australia’s beef exports (pictured, Trump during his ‘Liberation Day’ address announcing the new global tariffs)

Trump has previously made disparaging comments  about Australia’s beef exports since his tariff announcement. 

During the ‘Liberation Day’ address he even vowed to ban all Australian beef imports into the US.  

‘Australia bans — and they’re wonderful people, and they have wonderful everything — but they ban American beef,’ Trump said.

‘Yet we imported (US)$3billion of Australian beef from them just last year alone.

‘They won’t take any of our beef. They don’t want it because they don’t want it to affect their farmers and, you know, I don’t blame them.

‘But we’re doing the same thing right now starting at midnight tonight, I would say.’

Following Trump’s speech, Daily Mail Australia confirmed the Albanese government had assurances from the US Treasury that no ban will come into force. 

Australian beef, which is the country’s biggest export, will still be allowed into the US but will be subject to the same 10 per cent tariff as other Aussie goods. 

Furthermore, Australia does not sell anywhere near the $29billion of beef to the US as Senator Barrasso suggested. 

According to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia sells about to $2billion -which is much closer to Trump’s estimate in his ‘Liberation Day’ address.

The Department of Agriculture added Australia does not have a ban on US beef from the US. 

However, there is a ban on beef which is raised elsewhere – such as Canada or Mexico – and is then slaughtered in the US.  

While the news of the tariff was disappointing, industry figures said American consumers would be harder hit than Australian beef farmers.

Grass-fed beef made up 96 per cent of Australia’s beef exports to the US in 2024.

The US needs Australia’s lean, grass-fed beef to make hamburgers, because drought in America has resulted in the culling of herds and a shortage of product.

Some fast food companies in America use Aussie beef to supplement fattier US beef to help lower the fat content in their burgers. 

The demand is not going to stop and imports will continue but it is American consumers who will face higher prices as a result of the tariffs.

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Trump takes another brutal swipe against Australia in social media tirade

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