US lobby groups urge tariff retaliation against Australia's 'socialised medicine'
Source: The Guardian
US lobby groups urge tariff retaliation against Australia’s ‘socialised medicine’
US trade representative has been collecting evidence of countries ‘freeloading’ as part of Donald Trump’s tariff campaign
Tom McIlroy Chief political correspondent
Mon 7 Jul 2025 16.00 BST
Some of the most influential lobby groups in Washington are pushing the US to retaliate against Australia’s treatment of American exporters, pointing to drug approvals and domestic manufacturing incentives as proof of unfair “freeloading”.
As the Albanese government seeks to navigate uncertainty over the US president, Donald Trump’s shifting plans for trade tariffs, campaigners from the powerful US Chamber of Commerce and the National Taxpayers Union have urged the White House to push back on countries that use price controls or “undervalue American innovation”.
Trump’s trade representative, Jamieson Greer, has been charged with collecting evidence of countries “freeloading on American-financed innovation” around the world, part of America’s growing tariff campaign.
Chamber of Commerce vice-president John Murphy has used the review to criticise slow approval times and rejection rates for new drug applications to Australia’s $18bn Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. He said the average approval time of 32 months put Australia well behind other OECD countries, with only about a third of new medicines launched between 2014 and 2023 available on the PBS, compared with 87% for US consumers.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jul/08/us-lobby-groups-urge-tariff-retaliation-against-australias-socialised-medicine
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Going after such "freeloading" is the Trump strategy to lower drug prices, but the US enjoys a trade surplus with Australia.
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