Lyall Howard

As we reflect on 25 years since September 11 it is worth recalling that leading up to that day Australia and the United States were mired in a trade dispute over lamb tariffs.

A quarter century later, we are back in the same situation.

At 9:30am on 11 September, 2001, I was on Capitol Hill in Washington DC with Ian Donges, a lamb producer from Cowra and then president of the National Farmers’ Federation. We had an appointment with Senator Max Baucus from the sheep producing state of Montana. Senator Baucus had lobbied for lamb tariffs in 1999 and testified for import restrictions before the International Trade Commission (ITC).

In May 2001, the WTO Appellate Body upheld a ruling that the US had acted illegally in 1999 when President Clinton applied punitive safeguard tariffs on Australian lamb exports under Section 201 of the 1974 Trade Act.

United States Trade Representative. Robert Zoellick. announced in August that the US accepted the WTO ruling and would remove the tariffs in November. US lamb producers were to be given a US$42.7m adjustment package, which included a sheep meat breeding enhancement program.

Our offer to Senator Baucus was to work with American producers to make that package succeed. We always believed there was room for both American and Australian suppliers in the US lamb trade.

And here we are in 2026 with President Trump’s 12.5 percent tariffs on Australian lamb and the threat of a 30pc safeguard tariff following another ITC investigation under Section 201 due to report in November.

On that September morning 25 years ago it felt surreal in the Senator’s anteroom watching live coverage of the World Trade Centre burning in New York while we were waiting to talk about lamb imports.

Two days earlier we had seen the sun setting between the Twin Towers as we landed in New York. We had flown in from Uruguay following a Cairns Group Ministerial with Australia’s Trade Minister, Mark Vaile. Our plan was to travel to Washington for meetings on Capitol Hill and a BBQ at White Oaks, the residence of the Australian Ambassador. The BBQ, on Tuesday 11 September, was to show NFF support for the launch of negotiations for a free trade agreement with the United States. The Prime Minister would be present to provide his backing.

At 9:37am American Airlines Flight 77 was crashed into the Pentagon. The alarm bells rang out and we were escorted out of the building and off Capitol Hill. I clearly recall how calmly everyone responded. There was no shouting and no one ran. We could see smoke across the Potomac billowing out of the Pentagon. For the next few days we remained in Washington as US airspace shut down and hire cars, buses and all other options were exhausted. We eventually made it to Los Angeles to catch the first Qantas flight home.

The worldwide outpouring of support for America after 9/11 was palpable. Australia invoked ANZUS for the first time. It was coincidental that the Prime Minister was in Washington to mark 50 years of the defense alliance between Australia, New Zealand and the United States.

In 2026, Australia’s shared defense and trade interests with the United States are as important as they were in 2001. Sure, the Trump Administration is hard to take at times., but this is not the first “imperial presidency” and it won’t be the last.

America is a large, diverse and deeply divided nation that fought for its democracy. “From Prohibition to Woodstock” America has undergone sweeping cultural change. It is a nation of continental drifters moving around that vast country in search of the “more abundant life”. Australia is none of these things and perhaps this is why we don’t always understand the Americans.

Australia’s two-way trade with America is valued at US$77 billion and the investment relationship is worth US$1.6 trillion, making the United States Australia’s largest economic partner. There are well over 100,000 Australians living and working in America. Our greatest industrial success story, the Western Australian iron ore industry, was built with American money and American technology.

Twenty-five years on, the rules-based trading system is not what it was. The authority and standing of the WTO is greatly diminished. Another appeal is unlikely to be so fruitful. Perhaps it’s time to have that meeting with the Senators from Montana that we abandoned 25 years ago. Both Montana Senators Steve Daines (R) and Tim Sheehy (R) have advocated strongly for the 2026 Section 201 investigation.

Our plan in 2001 was to share genetics, management techniques and marketing strategies with the American Sheep Industry Association to help build the overall market for lamb meat, which the Americans love to call “an upscale menu item”.

There is plenty of opportunity for American sheep producers to grow the market with Australian collaboration and exchange. That really would be a better option for both sides than tariffs.

Author: Lyall Howard was deputy CEO and Director of Trade at the National Farmers’ Federation at the time of 9/11. He was senior advisor to the Minister for Trade Andrew Robb during negotiations for Australia’s three North Asian FTAs with Japan, Korea and China. He is now a farmer in Gippsland and part-time company director.