China has been accused of breaching the spirit of its free trade agreement with Australia after slapping tariffs on global beef imports.

In an unwelcome way for 2026 to get underway for the nation's farmers, China announced additional 55 per cent tariffs on beef imports for countries including Australia when shipments exceed certain quotas.

China's commerce ministry has set the total annual quota at 2.7million tonnes and allocated Australia 205,000 tonnes.

The measures took effect on January 1 this year for three years and stem from a probe initiated in December 2024 to protect China's ailing beef sector.

Just a few months earlier in 2024, the last of China's restrictions on Australian imports - which had affected products like barley, lobster and wine - was lifted following a bitter four-year trade feud, sparked when the Morrison government demanded an inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday said government representatives were communicating with their Chinese counterparts and stressed Australia wasn't being 'singled out'.

'Australian beef is in my view proudly, as the Australian prime minister, the best in the world,' he told reporters on Thursday.

'We compete in the world very well and our products are in great demand right around the world.  We expect that will continue ... the Australian beef industry has never been stronger than it is today, as we enter 2026.'

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (pictured) said Australian authorities were working with Chinese counterparts to resolve the issue

China has announced trade restrictions on multiple countries to protect its beef industry (Xi is pictured during a 2025 meeting with Anthony Albanese in Beijing) 

China is a major long-term market for Australian beef producers but made up about eight per cent of the country's total beef imports.

Both Cattle Australia and the Australian Meat Industry Council estimate the restriction could reduce the nation's beef exports to China by about a third compared to 2025.

That would equate to a loss of more than $1 billion in trade.

Quotas were eliminated when then-prime minister Tony Abbott struck the landmark free trade deal with China in 2015, opposition trade spokesman Kevin Hogan said.

China's decision was 'entirely unwarranted and at odds with the sentiment' of the free trade agreement, Cattle Australia chair Garry Edwards said.

'We strongly believe this decision will erode the access of Chinese consumers to a reliable source of high-quality, safely produced protein,' he said.