The European Union and Australia agreed to a sweeping trade deal on Tuesday, the latest move by U.S. allies to rethink their economic ties amid deepening global geopolitical uncertainty.
The agreement, which resulted from almost eight years of talks, would remove most of the tariffs the two sides had imposed on each other’s goods and allow the EU greater access to critical mineral supplies from Australia.
Under the long-awaited trade agreement, the EU is set to eliminate around 98% of its duties on Australian goods exports, including wine, dairy, wheat and barley, and seafood. In return, Australia would remove over 99% of tariffs on EU goods, particularly dairy, motor vehicles and chemicals.
“We are sending a strong signal to the rest of the world that friendship and cooperation is what matters most in times of turbulence,” European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement on the commission’s website on Tuesday.
“The EU and Australia may be geographically far apart but we couldn’t be closer in terms of how we see the world,” she added. “With these dynamic new partnerships on security and defense, as well as trade, we are moving even closer together.”
