Trade talks between Australia and European Union collapse

Trade talks between Australia and the European Union (EU) collapse as both sides accuse the other of being unwilling to compromise.

Australian Trade Minister Don Farrell said overnight that last-chance talks on a trade deal between Australia and the EU have collapsed. Mr. Don had to attend ministerial talks with EU trade and agricultural ministries today to finalize a deal. But he withdrew from them after initial talks failed to negotiate an agreement.

Trade Minister Don Farrell has made good on threats to walk away from free-trade talks after EU negotiators failed to increase its offer. See why the deal fell apart 👉 https://t.co/rMz5ArBtDe pic.twitter.com/w71y2lLX9z
— The Weekly Times (@theweeklytimes) October 30, 2023

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Why trade talks between Australia and the EU failed?

The meeting between Don Farrell and the EU representatives for trade talks took place in Japan on the sidelines of the G7 meeting. The basic problem for the failure of dialogue was the lack of access to Australian meat and protections for EU goods.

Improved access for Australian meat and protections for EU goods proved a major hurdle in talks between the two sides. #9News https://t.co/6M0jMmXh1e
— 9News Australia (@9NewsAUS) October 29, 2023

Murray Watt said that the EU did not offer enough access for beef, sheep, dairy, and sugar exporters. He said Australia had prepared to make some concessions but the EU had not budged from the offer it proposed three months before. He further said they (the EU) have essentially come up with the same offer with a couple of twists. Murray Watt is the Agriculture Minister of Australia.

Trade talks between Australia and the European Union collapse

The Australian government said it would only do a deal if it was in the national interest. Its key demand is to secure much greater access for Australian agricultural exporters to sell to EU consumers.

However, an EU executive spokesperson told Politico that the EU regrets the lack of progress made during talks in Japan today.

Australia wanted better agricultural access for its farmers including products beef, sheep, sugar, etc into the lucrative European market. EU is pretty firm on imposing strict quotas. And it is not allowing Australia to export a high enough quota in the EU market.

In the month of July, the EU and Australia were in negotiations, but the deal collapsed for the same reason as Australia, citing inadequate access to European markets for its farm sector.