Australia will resume talks on a trade deal with the European Union after the US imposed tariffs, Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell said.
“I had a very warm and constructive meeting with my counterpart from the European Union and we agreed to accelerate the resumption of negotiations on a free trade agreement,” Farrell told the Nightly newspaper.
He also noted that he met with the European Commissioner for Trade Policy and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič on Tuesday evening. The parties agreed to start negotiations immediately after the federal election in Australia, scheduled for May 3.
Negotiations on a free trade agreement between Australia and the European Union began in 2018, but were suspended three years later due to the deterioration of relations between Canberra and Paris against the backdrop of the conclusion of the first agreement on the construction of nuclear submarines within the AUKUS alliance with the US and the UK. Later, in 2022, with the arrival of a new government in Australia, the parties returned to discussing a trade agreement with the EU, but since then no results have been achieved. The main reason for the difficulty in the negotiation process was the lack of access of a number of Australian products to the European market due to the inconsistency of the product trademarks.
