2 April 2025

As the clock ticks over to “Liberation Day” in the United States, countries around the world are bracing to see what the next wave of promised tariffs have in store. In the lead up to the day, President Trump told reporters the tariffs would “start with all countries” and the just-released 2025 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers mirrors this notion. The report lists 58 countries and the European Union and highlights “significant foreign barriers to U.S. exports, U.S. foreign direct investment, and U.S. electronic commerce.” These grievances give the clearest indication as to what the Liberation Day targets will include.

Australia has five trade barriers highlighted in the report, however four of these five were also included (verbatim in some cases) in the Foreign Trade Barriers Report s under prior administrations:

Sanitary and phytosanitary barriers: This looks at the stringent barriers Australia has in place around animal and plant imports. Australia’s quarantine laws are some of the strictest in the world due to its unique ecosystem and the high risk it faces due to invasive species and diseases. The report specifically names beef, pork, poultry, apples and pears. If reciprocal measures are taken, it could have a much greater impact on Australia than the steel and aluminium tariffs because beef is consistently one of its top exports to the United States.
Intellectual property protection: There are requirements in the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement requiring pharmaceutical patent owners to be notified of requests for marketing by third parties. The report mentions concerns raised by pharmaceutical companies of delays in these notifications and additional US concerns about how civil damages are managed.
Electronic commerce/digital trade barriers: In 2021, the Australian Government passed a mandatory bargaining code, requiring companies that distribute news content (including Google and Meta) to pay news corporations for distributing their content. The report highlights this and new potential penalties for companies who do not reach or renew agreements with news outlets as an issue to be monitored.
Services barriers: The report raises concerns about Australia’s National Cultural Policy recommending streaming platforms “ensure continued access to local stories”. It flags that the United States will monitor this to ensure it does not breach the FTA.
Investment barriers: In this section, the report singles out the NSW Government for failing to give compensation to US shareholders for a cancelled mining project. There was a parliamentary committee recommendation for this compensation, however, legislation was passed that precluded any compensation for the cancellation.

While most of these issues have long been raised by the United States under both Democratic and Republican presidents, what is different this time is the approach to implementation. As much as these US trade concerns are longstanding and often predate even the first Trump administration, the extent of the actions the administration appears ready to take in retaliation for these concerns would diverge considerably from their recent predecessors.

Read the Foreign Trade Barriers report

Mari Koeck
Director, Engagement and Impact

"April 2nd is Liberation Day in America!!! For DECADES we have been ripped off and abused by every nation in the World, both friend and foe. Now it is finally time for the Good Ol’ USA to get some of that MONEY, and RESPECT, BACK."

President Donald Trump on Truth Social | 21 March 2025

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By the numbers

Value of Australian beef exports (Australian dollars)

Source: A ustralian Bureau of Statistics

Australia’s largest trading partner is China, but the United States has been Australia’s largest market for exported beef in recent years. Beef was one of the Australian exports targeted by China in 2020. Rather than applying tariffs, four Australian red meat abattoirs were banned from selling meat in China due to labelling and health certificate requirements.

When the Chinese tariffs and bans on Australian wine, barley, beef, timber, coal, cotton and lobsters took hold, Australia diversified its export markets. USSC modelling shows that Saudi Arabia overtook China to become Australia’s largest importer of barley, Vietnam imported the most cotton and the United Kingdom and the United States imported the most wine.

In 2024, the United States accounted for 30.7% of Australia’s beef exports (up from 17% in 2022). Agricultural issues have been a sticking point in the US-Australia trade relationship for decades. While US tariffs or restrictions may limit imports of Australian beef, Australia’s beef exports globally may increase as they diversify their markets, like they did following China’s restrictions in 2020.