Sri Lanka, July 24 -- Australia will lift restrictions on the import of beef from the US, a trade barrier which had angered the Trump administration.

American beef has effectively been banned from the country - which has some of the strictest biosecurity laws in the world - since 2003 after an outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, commonly known as mad cow disease.

The White House cited the restrictions when explaining tariffs imposed on Australia in April, as part of US President Donald Trump's so-called Liberation Day scheme.

The Australian government has denied the timing of the decision was related to the trade tiff, saying a decade-long department review found the US had improved beef safety measures.

Canberra technically...