What has Trump done now?

[Grumpy Old Nasho]

I don't know why we import beef, but if you study Free Trade agreements, you'll probably find the answers. 

[kgwilson]

Most of the beef we export to the USA is lean beef mixed with fattier US beef for hamburgers, you know Trumps favoutite big Mac. The US cattle herd has been in decline for decades reaching a low of 86.2 million down from over 90 million a decade ago. It has been in decline for over 75 years.

[onetrack]

Quote

Now I see that USA has exported $700,000,000 worth of beef to Australia.

No, that's an incorrect assumption. The article says "$700M worth of agricultural exports". That amount would be comprised largely of agricultural machinery. We have no tractor industry left in Australia, so we import American-built tractors, harvesters and tillage equipment by the shipload.

And they are all big-ticket items. Some of the headers and tractors are now approaching the $1M mark for purchase price.

The amount of American beef shipped to Australia can barely be measured, they can't supply enough beef to Americans, so they ship in ... wait for it ... AU$5.2B worth of Australian beef each year!

The level of American shipments of beef to Australia is estimated to be around US$1M to US$2M at a maximum - a drop in the ocean compared to the AU$19.5B worth of beef that Australia exported in total in 2024.

 

https://globalaginvesting.com/australia-opens-market-to-u-s-beef-imports-after-two-decades/

 

Edited 4 hours ago by onetrack

[old man emu]

Regarding oil. I believe that Australia's reserves of crude oil are stored in Texas. If the USA cannot import crude oil due to the war, how long would it be before Trump commandeeers our stored crude?

[kgwilson]

That seems a pretty dumb place to store our crude given the geographical distance. We probably have no means to refines it here anyway but the yanks always do whatever they like irrespective of agreements and/or water tight contracts.

[facthunter]

That was arranged By ANGUS TAYLOR.  80 Mil worth of crude if I recall correctly.  Nev

[onetrack]

The 1.7M barrels of oil purchased in 2020 as part of Australia's storage reserves, and stored in a Texas salt cavern, was severely criticised by opponents after it was purchased, with opponents claiming it would be of little use to us in the event of a war, because of the time lag in accessing/shipping it (2 to 3 weeks), and the risk of loss via enemy attack in shipping channels, when on its way here.

 

The message must have been heeded, because that oil reserve was sold off in 2022. I have no idea whether a financial loss or gain was incurred in the sale - but it may been sold at a profit, as oil prices spiked in 2022, thanks to the Ukraine invasion by Russia. 

 

Regardless, the simple fact remains, we still do not have the stipulated 90 days of oil reserves in hand, as required by the IEA. Our fuel reserves are currently around 34 to 36 days, and that should be of great concern to every politician with more than one functioning brain cell. Unfortunately, we have quite a number of politicians who seem to lack any functioning brain cells.