Thursday, 6 March 2025

Trade and investment

David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:00): (1493) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Finance in the other place. The new Trump administration in the United States is making them an unreliable trading partner, even to their greatest allies. If they fulfil their promise to apply tariffs to agricultural goods, it will damage our economy and the livelihoods of thousands of Australians. This is particularly bad for Victorians, because the United States is our second-largest export destination. No other Australian state has a larger proportion of exports to the US, and no-one will be hit harder than country Victorians. They produce more than $1.5 billion worth of meat products for export to the US each year, mainly beef, lamb and goat meat. Tariffs will not just affect farmers but also processors and others along the supply chain. My request for action from the minister is to urgently activate staff in Global Victoria teams around the world to find alternative markets and report back to our exporters.