Summary of a joint statement following the second meeting of the
Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement Joint Committee on
3 June 2025.
Alongside the OECD 2025 Ministerial Council Meeting held in
Paris, Australian Minister for Trade and Tourism, Senator the
Honourable Don Farrell and UK Secretary of State for Business and
Trade, the Rt Hon MP, met on 3 June 2025,
for the second meeting of the Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade
Agreement Joint Committee.
The Ministers celebrated the strong trade and
investment relationship between the UK and Australia. Two-way
trade between our economies reached AUD36bn or GBP23bn in 2024.
As of 2024, the stock of UK Foreign Direct Investment in
Australia reached AUD156bn or GBP77bn, and Australian Foreign
Direct Investment in the UK rose to AUD210bn or GBP104bn – an
increase of 6.5% and 11.5% respectively on the previous year.
The strong uptake of the Agreement's benefits is resulting in
real savings for businesses, workers and consumers.
Since entry into force on 31 May 2023, AUD4.7 bn or GBP2.4bn
worth of traded goods benefited from preferential tariff access,
i.e. around 70% of goods traded between the UK and Australia made
use of available preferences.
Between June 2023 and December 2024:
- AUD3.4bn or GBP1.8bn (65%) of eligible goods imports into
Australia from the UK made use of an FTA tariff preference.
Had this trade occurred at standard Most Favoured Nation (MFN)
tariff rates, up to an additional GBP89m or AUD172m in duties
would have been collected.
- GBP662m or AUD1277m (77%) of eligible goods imports into the
UK from Australia made use of FTA tariff preferences.
Had these occurred at standard Most Favoured Nation (MFN) tariff
rates, up to an additional GBP139m or AUD269m in duties would
have been paid.
The Ministers noted that free and inclusive trade is a
cornerstone of prosperity in both countries.
Recognising that open markets, and reliable legal and regulatory
frameworks are essential for trade, the Ministers committed to
strengthening the rules-based trading system.
Ministers also noted progress on recognition of professional
qualifications in key sectors through the FTA's Professional
Services Working Group, and the ongoing work under the FTA's
Innovation Chapter to explore the potential for a ‘biobridge'
between our countries to expedite new and innovative medicines,
diagnostics, and therapeutics to market.
The Ministers agreed to continue working together to strengthen
the role that free trade plays in increasing prosperity and
reinforcing resilience against economic turbulence and share the
benefits of trade to all including through the World Trade
Organization, OECD and Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement
for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Note to editors:
Figures reported are from UK Official Statistics and Australian
official sources.
Australian trade data is sourced from the Australian Bureau of
Statistics https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/international-trade/international-trade-supplementary-information-calendar-year/2024
UK trade data sourced from the ONS
publication of UK total trade: all countries seasonally adjusted
October to December 2024 data.
Trade asymmetries exist between the UK and Australia official
trade statistics, but this does not mean that either country is
inaccurate in their estimation. Differences can be caused by a
range of conceptual and measurement variations between the
estimation practices of different countries.
Investment data is sourced from the Australia Bureau of
Statistics https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/economy/international-trade/international-investment-position-australia-supplementary-statistics/2024
The underlying data for the imports into the UK preference
utilisation figures were sourced from HM Revenue
and Custom's (HMRC) UK goods imports by tariff regime, April 2025
data. This data is provided on a country of origin
basis.
The methodology used to calculate UK preference utilisation rates
can be found here https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/preference-utilisation-of-uk-trade-in-goods-technical-annex/preference-utilisation-of-uk-trade-in-goods-official-statistics-technical-annex#methodology-note-for-preference-utilisation-of-uk-trade-in-goods
Estimated duty savings are based on exchanged country tariff
schedules and preference utilisation data. For UK imports, these
are all calculated using the Ad Valorem, Specific, or Compound
tariffs applied at the CN8 level. Where appropriate, Ad Valorem
Equivalent tariffs were used (source: MacMap). The Bank of
England spot
exchange rates (June 2023-December 2024) was used to
convert from GBP to AUD.
Estimates of Australia's preference utilisation and duty savings
for the June 2023 to December 2024 period are drawn from
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade calculations using ABS
trade data and DFAT tariff schedule data.
Investment data is sourced from the Australian Bureau of
Statistics.
UK-AUS total goods trade values may not equal the sum of UK goods
imports and AUS goods imports due to rounding and methodological
differences in calculating preference eligible imports.
