April 2021 Update
The fifth round of negotiations on the Australia-UK FTA commenced last week and on Friday 23 April 2021 the UK and Australia reached consensus on “the vast majority of elements of a comprehensive free trade agreement.”
In a joint announcement, the Ministers representing each country said that they are “confident” that the remaining issues will be resolved, and that they will now enter a “sprint” to agree the outstanding details with the aim of reaching agreement-in-principle by June.
The UK’s International Trade Secretary, Liz Truss, said:
“We have made major breakthroughs over the past few days and an agreement is now in sight. I want to thank Dan [Australia’s Minister for Trade, Dan Tehan] personally for the contribution he has made and for his desire to get this deal done. This is a deal that will deliver for Britain and all parts of our economy. It is a win-win for both nations. It is a fundamentally liberalising agreement that will support jobs across the country and help us emerge stronger from the pandemic, strengthening ties between two democracies who share a fierce belief in freedom, enterprise and fair play.
We will spend the next few weeks ironing out details and resolving outstanding issues, with a view to reaching a deal by June.”
Kepdowrie Chambers has assisted hundreds of UK-based companies with their “homework” and due diligence into the Australian market, including setting up and expanding their businesses in Australia. In particular, we have noted that expressions of interest in the Australian market have grown steadily ever since the 2016 EU Referendum (and exponentially since Brexit), so please get in touch if you’d like to have a discussion about “Brexporting” to Australia. We’re here to make sure that the learning-curve is not a challenge and you can quickly get on with the more important task of winning new customers.