Australia’s largest export industries to the US include beef and other meats, gold and pharmaceuticals.
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Farrell said the decision would make many Australian products more competitive in the American market because rival goods from other nations faced higher trade penalties.
“This means products like wine, like beef, like lamb, like wheat, in a relative sense, are cheaper into the United States,” Farrell said. “And as a government, we will assist all of our exporters in ensuring that we take advantage of this situation and increase the volume of exports, not just to the United States, but to all of those other countries that we have diversified with.”
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s office was contacted for comment.
The so-called “reciprocal tariffs” are separate from sector-specific tariffs of 50 per cent on steel, aluminium and copper, which also remain in place.
There is also a legal cloud hanging over the reciprocal tariffs. In May, the Court of International Trade in New York found that they were unlawful, as Trump had exceeded his authority by imposing them using emergency laws.
The administration’s appeal was heard in Washington on Thursday (Friday AEST) before a panel of judges who expressed scepticism at times about the case presented by the government’s lawyers.
Former Australian ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos, now the Australia chair at The Asia Group, said the unchanged tariff rate was a pleasant surprise.
“That seems to be the baseline now for the trade surplus countries,” he said.
“It seems this administration was determined to have higher tariffs, so no one was going to get zero – that was not realistic. I think everyone will just declare victory and go home.”
Sinodinos said the main issue for Australia was the potential flow-on effects for world trade and investment as a result of Trump’s broader tariff regime, particularly with China.
“The impact could be significant globally, or it may not be,” he said. “The US economy at the moment is still chugging align fairly well, but there are some price pressures starting to emerge.”
There were some exceptions to Thursday’s announcements. China’s tariff truce with the US expires on August 12, and the Trump administration has signalled it is likely to be extended, while Mexico – the US’s largest trading partner – won a 90-day reprieve to negotiate a broader deal.
As Trump had already announced, tariffs on goods from India will be set at 25 per cent; Japan and South Korea will be 15 per cent, and Indonesia, Pakistan, Cambodia, Thailand Malaysia will all be 19 per cent.
Tariffs on South Africa are to remain at 30 per cent, the rate for Israel was adjusted to 15 per cent from 17 per cent, while tariffs on goods from Switzerland were increased from 31 per cent to 39 per cent.
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Canada was slugged 35 per cent – up from 25 per cent – on all products not covered by the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, a move the White House linked in part to what it said was Canada’s failure to stop fentanyl smuggling.
“President Trump is using tariffs as a necessary and powerful tool to put America First after many years of unsustainable trade deficits that threaten our economy and national security,” the White House said.
Goods shipped through another country to evade a higher tariff would also be subject to a levy of 40 per cent, according to the White House fact sheet.