The UK has signed an historic trade agreement with Australia, our
first from scratch since leaving the EU, setting new global
standards in digital and services and creating new work and
travel opportunities for Brits and Aussies.
The deal was agreed in principle by the Prime Minister and
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison in London in June, and
negotiators have now finalised all chapters of the agreement.
The final deal was signed in a virtual ceremony by International
Trade Secretary on Thursday night, and
will now be laid in Parliament for a period of scrutiny.
The deal is expected to unlock £10.4 billion of additional trade,
boosting our economy and increasing wages across the UK, while
eliminating tariffs on 100% of UK exports.
It is a deal tailored to the UK economy, with cutting-edge
agreements in areas where Britain is a world leader, including in
digital and tech, along with increased access to Australia for
the UK’s powerhouse service sectors.
This agreement will help create new opportunities for businesses
in both the UK and Australia:
- It gives UK firms guaranteed access to bid for an additional
£10 billion worth of Australian public sector contracts per year.
- It will allow young people to work and travel in Australia
for up to three years at a time, removing previous visa
conditions.
- For the first time UK service suppliers including architects,
scientists, researchers, lawyers and accountants will have access
to visas to work in Australia without being subject to
Australia’s changing skilled occupation list. This is more than
Australia has ever offered any other country in a free trade
agreement.
- The deal removes tariffs on all UK exports, making it cheaper
to sell iconic products like cars, Scotch whisky and UK fashion
to Australia, while making Australian favourites like Jacob’s
Creek and Hardys wines, Tim Tams and surfboards more accessible
for British consumers.
The deal is also a gateway into the fast-growing Indo-Pacific
region and will boost our bid to join CPTPP, one of the largest
free trade areas in the world, covering £8.4 trillion of GDP and
11 Pacific nations from Australia to Mexico.
International Trade Secretary said:
Our UK-Australia trade deal is a landmark moment in the historic
and vital relationship between our two Commonwealth nations. This
agreement is tailored to the UK’s strengths, and delivers for
businesses, families, and consumers in every part of the UK –
helping us to level up. We will continue to work together in
addressing shared challenges in global trade, climate change and
technological changes in the years ahead.
Today we demonstrate what the UK can achieve as an agile,
independent sovereign trading nation. This is just the start as
we get on the front foot and seize the seismic opportunities that
await us on the world stage.
RenewableUK’s CEO Dan McGrail said:
Australia has the potential to be a clean energy powerhouse, able
to provide all its electricity needs using just 1% of its
offshore wind potential.
This free trade agreement will make it easier for UK and
Australian companies to export green technologies and expertise,
speeding up the transition of both countries to our net zero
goals. We look forward to seeing even more UK companies out in
Australia, ensuring they maximise all the economic benefits we’ve
seen flow from our low-cost wind energy and green hydrogen
developments.
TheCityUK Managing Director, International Trade and
Investment, Nicola Watkinson, said:
This agreement with Australia is further evidence of the UK
breaking ground with new trade deals with key trade partners. It
is the first wholly new agreement negotiated with an advanced
economy, and it furthers the UK objective to join the
Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
The agreement rightly focuses on issues important to the services
sectors representing 80% of the UK economy, such as recognition
of professional qualifications, data and digital provisions,
which all create new opportunities for UK exporters. As the UK’s
largest exporter of services, the financial and related
professional services industry welcomes this agreement.
Stephen Phipson, CEO of Make UK, the manufacturers’
organisation, said:
Achieving a new preferential trade arrangement with Australia is
welcome for Britain’s manufacturers who will benefit from day one
with tariff free access on goods sold and witness improvements in
business mobility between the two countries.
With enhanced export opportunities for the UK’s medical device
manufacturing sector and strengthened frameworks for bilateral
co-operation on technical standards and regulations, there is
much that the UK and Australia can work on in the future to boost
exports from the UK. In the coming months, we look forward to
working with Government to look at how the wider benefits of this
new and closer relationship can be positioned and communicated
with the manufacturing sector to maximise understanding of the
opportunities available ahead of the deal coming into force in
the future.
