What is the EU-Australia trade deal actually about?

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Published on
24/03/2026 - 11:31 GMT+1
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The European Commission president is in Australia right now, trying to push a long-delayed free trade deal across the finish line
With US tariffs rising and trade tensions with China heating up, both Brussels and Canberra urgently need reliable partners.

It is an over 20-hour flight to Sydney, but the prize at the end might just be worth it
Or like European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said, "trade is not just economics, it’s power”
The economic ties are already massive
The EU is currently Australia's third-largest trading partner, exporting almost €28 billion more in goods than it imports
For the EU, Australia ranks just 20th
But this deal is not about selling more machinery
It is about securing the green transition — a goal that the Iran war has turned into a matter of sheer energy security
Australia is the world's third-largest producer of rare earths, and Brussels wants to remove trade barriers to critical raw materials such as lithium and cobalt without relying on China
Fearing a repeat of the Mercosur farmer protests, Brussels is putting a hard ceiling on Australian meat imports, demanding strict quotas and full protection for European food names
And Brussels is on a roll, sealing recent pacts with Mercosur, India, Mexico, Switzerland, and Indonesia to become the ultimate reliable partner
And as the European Commission president put it, “the world wants to trade with Europe”
But the EU's biggest trading partner is noticeably missing: the United States
For now, European lawmakers are trying to implement a limited trade deal
But between US President Donald Trump's 15% tariffs and recent US Supreme Court chaos, progress is slow
Ironically, the biggest obstacle to an EU-US trade deal seems to be the US itself
Watch the Euronews video in the player above for the full story.

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