Yeah, I’m still going with this just being a political stunt. It’s just not worth it for an importer to even do it IMO, outside maybe some incredibly niche’ cuts.
Yeah, it's political.
I read somewhere that the US beef ban (if it was direct from USA) was dropped in 2019 anyway. Makes sense that no one heard or cared because USA consumes more beef than they have – they are a net importer anyway. And we raise or slaughter more beef than we consume and we are a net exporter.
The beef industry over there prefers grain fed, hormone pumped beef locally, and imports grass fed, hormone free stuff from us and Canada, Mexico or South America.
The only reluctance of a 'free trade' beef from USA was the fact that they are a net importer and Australia didn't want their left over junk that came from untraced sources via the USA which could have come from any country since so much beef is heading through USA in the first place.
So it's political in the sense that it's unlikely there will be a beef shipment heading here, but all restrictions were based on we didn't want their left over imported junk that they may try to pass on. With the higher prices there now and still high internal demand it's doubtful they'll ever pass anything on. Their dollar stores and markets and small diners will likely want the worst of the worst anyway.