Thursday, 3 April 2025

United States trade

Jeff BOURMAN (Eastern Victoria) (12:21): (890) My question today is for the Treasurer. Treasurer, President Trump this morning announced he will place a 10 per cent tariff on all Australian imports into the US. Gippsland exports dairy and other products, so this is very important to my constituents, and understandably they are a bit nervous. What impact might this have on the Victorian economy?

Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Treasurer, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Regional Development) (12:22): I thank Mr Bourman for his question. I share his concern and disappointment at the announcements coming out of the US, particularly in relation to today, but obviously it is not something that was unexpected, unfortunately. In that regard I do support the federal government’s efforts in relation to continuing to oppose these entirely unjustified tariffs.

I have taken advice from my department that Victoria is well placed to ride out this challenge. We have got a diverse economy, with trading links to many countries across manufacturing, agriculture and the service industries. For example, Victorian exporters sell over a billion dollars worth of wool to China. There is over $320 million worth of cheese sold to Japan and hundreds of millions of dollars worth of pulses to India. The direct effects of the tariffs are likely to be minimal in the short term. The Reserve Bank estimates that the 10 per cent US tariff will have a direct impact on economic growth of around one-tenth of a per cent.

You particularly mentioned agriculture, and I know the beef industry is obviously a big importer into the US. It is something that we will continue to talk to the agricultural sector about, but the initial estimates are that because our beef, Victorian beef as opposed to perhaps broader Australian beef, is such a high-premium, high-value product it is already a product that is being purchased in the US by people that are willing to pay a premium for this product. So whether a 10 per cent impost on a product that is already high value has an effect remains to be seen.

That does not mean that we are relaxed about our efforts in relation to diversification of our products going to other countries. Of course that is why we have a range of officers around the world continuing to have conversations about who should buy Victorian produce, and it is not a hard conversation to have. A couple of agricultural ministers and country members are all too familiar with the fact that we have some of the best produce in the world. Our agricultural sector is well renowned. So being able to ensure that the rest of the world are open markets is something that is always an ongoing effort, particularly for me, the Minister for Agriculture and the Minister for Finance, who deals with trade.

Jeff Bourman: The Treasurer managed to answer my supplementary in amongst her substantive response, so thank you.