Trade talks between Australia and the UK are progressing and a free trade agreement has been agreed “in principal”. If ratified, the deal will be the first that the UK has negotiated “from scratch” in the post-EU period.
The UK government has published some detail and has begun to promote the benefits in the mainstream media.
This is a strategically-important deal for the UK, since it may act as a stepping-stone to access to the Asia Pacific zone via the CPTPP*. Australia is also a major exporter of agri-food products.
Some in the UK food industry – notably the NFU - have raised concern that a deal with Australia may expose UK food producers to unfair competition from Australian counterparts who (allegedly) produce to lower standards.
The UK government has offered limited reassurance, stating that UK farmers will be protected by a quota on imports of agri-food, but this will be time-limited (15 years). It is not clear whether other measures will protect standards of production.
* CPTPP = the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. The UK is currently in talks to join this FTA.